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American leader visits overseas have historically been an occasion to showcase the influence of the United States on the global scene. The president's week-long tour through Asian nations, on the other hand, has been a display of the authority of the leader – but also, at times, of that influence's boundaries.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the opening phase were an demonstration in pleasing a at times volatile president. It was an admission that Trump, with the stroke of a document, could introduce taxes and further steps that have the potential to harm the markets of trade-reliant countries.

His sit-down with China's president Xi Jinping on Thursday, however, was a distinct situation.

It was a encounter of counterparts on the international scene, where the consequences for each country – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their citizens – were enormous.

With Beijing, Trump may wave his authority, but those steps entail repercussions. They come with a toll.

• The US president praises 'amazing' talks with Xi but no agreement agreed
• Xi and the US leader find brief pause as China pursues extended strategy

For the initial phase, Trump's recent foray into world politics was successful.

Each destination was punctuated by a blend of standard commercial discussions – deals made under the threat of the president's "reciprocal" tariffs – and personal accommodations that at points bordered on the deferential.

In the Malaysian stop, Trump gained access to key materials and made headway toward completing commercial deals with regional partners. He also presided over a treaty that should reduce frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "truce" the American president prefers to tout.

In the Japanese leg, the president's Marine One passed by a famous structure illuminated red, white and blue – with a peak in golden.

Newly elected Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi described $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the America and offered the US leader a present of 250 flowering trees for the United States' 250th anniversary, and a golf club and bag that came from Shinzo Abe, the murdered past head who connected with Trump in his first term.

She also became the latest overseas counterpart to suggest the president for his long-sought international honor.

Keeping pace, the Korean government welcomed Trump with cannons discharging a honor salute and a armed forces orchestra that rendered the presidential anthem and YMCA – the musical group anthem that has become a Trump rally anthem.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for Trump during which he presented the American leader his nation's highest medal and a model of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Noon repast with Lee featured a "Conciliatory Treat" of gold-covered chocolate squares. Later that day, the hosts served the president fine beverage at an intimate dinner in the president's honor with half-dozen international heads present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference meeting.

In the US, the president may be the target of "No Kings" protests by Americans who oppose his boundary-testing extensions of presidential power, but during his regional swing he was treated like royalty.

And like the monarchs of history, Trump arrived in Korea seeking payment – in the form of $two hundred billion in monetary contributions, $twenty billion a per year, from South Korea to the United States, to be invested at the guidance of Trump's administration. Agreement on the conditions of those payments helped ensure that the duty level on host nation exports to the United States would decrease from 25% to fifteen percent.

The primary focus of the president's Asia trip took place in its final hours, however, as he met with Xi.

There, the authority balance between heads of the world's two largest economies was decidedly divergent than the exchanges the president had with his international peers in previous days.

Not present were typical pomp and the pageantry. Without any military bands, absent ceremonial troops, no thoughtfully prepared meal plans marking mutual national affection. By contrast, the pair of counterparts and their top aides positioned themselves across a large pale meeting furniture in a nondescript military building just near the airstrip of the city of Busan's global terminal.

It was perhaps a reflection of the significant risks that when the president exchanged greetings with the Chinese leader in the southern port, he appeared