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US presidential trips abroad have traditionally been an chance to display the strength of the United States on the global scene. The president's week-long tour through East Asia, by contrast, has been a show of the authority of the president – but also, at times, of that authority's limitations.

The president's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the opening phase were an demonstration in satisfying a occasionally volatile US leader. It was an admission that the leader, with the flick of a document, could enact tariffs and additional actions that have the capacity to harm the markets of trade-reliant nations.

His sit-down with Beijing's head Xi on Thursday, though, was something entirely different.

It was a encounter of peers on the international scene, where the consequences for each country – for their economies, for their world reputation, for the prosperity of their people – were immense.

With Beijing, Trump may use his power, but such actions entail repercussions. They involve a cost.

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For the opening segment, Trump's recent entry into world politics was smooth sailing.

Each destination was characterized by a combination of traditional commercial discussions – deals made under the shadow of the president's "equivalent" taxes – and individual concessions that at times bordered on the deferential.

In Malaysia, Trump secured access to critical minerals and made progress toward completing economic agreements with regional partners. He also presided over a pact that should reduce frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace agreement" the US leader loves to promote.

In Japan, Trump's helicopter soared near a Tokyo Tower displayed red, white and blue – with a top in gilded.

Freshly appointed Prime Minister the Japanese leader detailed $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the America and presented the president a present of two hundred fifty flowering trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf equipment and case that was owned by Shinzo Abe, the assassinated past head who bonded with the president in his first term.

She also became the newest overseas counterpart to propose the president for his highly-coveted peace award.

Matching the effort, Korea greeted Trump with cannons performing a 21-gun salute and a military band that rendered the presidential anthem and YMCA – the Village People anthem that has evolved into a political gathering theme.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for Trump during which he awarded the president his country's premier award and a copy of an historical royal headpiece.

Lunch with the Korean leader included a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-covered chocolate squares. Afterward, the hosts offered the president fine beverage at an exclusive gathering in the president's recognition with six international heads participating in the regional summit conference.

In the America, Trump may be the target of "No Kings" demonstrations by US citizens who oppose his boundary-testing expansions of leader's control, but during his Asian tour he was received as royalty.

And like the rulers of old, Trump visited the Korean nation requesting payment – in the form of $200bn in financial transfers, $20 billion a annually, from South Korea to the United States, to be used at the guidance of Trump's administration. Approval on the conditions of those transfers assisted in that the tax percentage on Korean products to the America would drop from a quarter to fifteen percent.

The main event of the president's Asian tour occurred in its last moments, though, as he met with Xi.

There, the authority balance between counterparts of the global top two markets was noticeably divergent than the interactions the president had with his international peers in earlier stops.

Absent were the usual pageantry and the display. Lacking service ensembles, absent ceremonial troops, missing thoughtfully prepared menus marking mutual national affection. By contrast, the two leaders and their senior advisors positioned themselves across a large pale meeting furniture in a unremarkable military building just adjacent to the landing strip of Busan's international airport.

It was perhaps a demonstration of the major consequences that when Trump exchanged greetings with the Chinese leader in Busan, he appeared