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American leader visits overseas have historically been an opportunity to showcase the influence of the US on the global scene. Trump's week-long tour through Asian nations, by contrast, has been a demonstration of the clout of the leader – but also, at times, of that power's constraints.

The president's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the opening phase were an exercise in satisfying a at times unpredictable American president. It was an acknowledgement that the leader, with the signature of a document, could impose duties and other measures that have the potential to damage the markets of export-oriented countries.

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

It was a encounter of peers on the international scene, where the risks for each country – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the welfare of their citizens – were significant.

With Beijing, the US leader may use his power, but such actions come with ramifications. They come with a toll.

• Trump praises 'remarkable' talks with the Chinese leader but no agreement finalized
• The Chinese president and Trump find brief pause as Beijing plays longer game

For the initial phase, the president's latest entry into global diplomacy was smooth sailing.

Each visit was characterized by a blend of conventional commercial discussions – deals made under the threat of the president's "reciprocal" taxes – and individual concessions that at times bordered on the subservient.

In Malaysia, the president secured entry to critical minerals and made advances toward completing trade arrangements with south-east Asian nations. He also oversaw a pact that should ease border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace agreement" the president enjoys to promote.

In Japan, the president's helicopter passed by a landmark tower lit American colors – with a summit in golden.

Freshly appointed Head Takaichi detailed $550bn in Japanese investments in the US and presented the US leader a offering of a quarter-thousand sakura trees for America's 250th birthday, and a golf equipment and carrier that was owned by former Prime Minister Abe, the assassinated former prime minister who bonded with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the newest overseas counterpart to nominate Trump for his highly-coveted international honor.

Not to be outdone, South Korea greeted the president with guns performing a honor salute and a service ensemble that rendered the leader's song and the Village People song – the musical group song that has turned into a presidential event theme.

Head Lee Jae Myung held an "honour ceremony" for Trump during which he gave the American leader his country's highest medal and a model of an historical royal headpiece.

Noon repast with Lee featured a "Conciliatory Treat" of gilded baked goods. Afterward, the Koreans provided the president fine beverage at an exclusive gathering in the president's honor with six global figures participating in the APEC conference.

In the United States, the president may be the target of "No Kings" rallies by Americans who oppose his limit-pushing expansions of executive authority, but during his regional tour he was treated like royalty.

And like the monarchs of ancient times, the president arrived in Korea seeking tribute – in the guise of $two hundred billion in monetary contributions, $20 billion a annually, from Korea to the United States, to be invested at the direction of the president's administration. Consent on the conditions of those contributions helped ensure that the duty level on host nation goods to the US would decrease from a quarter to under twenty percent.

The primary focus of the president's Asian tour came in its concluding phase, though, as he sat down with the Chinese leader.

There, the power dynamic between leaders of the global top two markets was decidedly different than the exchanges Trump had with his overseas colleagues in earlier stops.

Not present were all the ceremony and the spectacle. No military bands, without protocol units, missing carefully crafted dining selections celebrating bilateral friendship. Instead, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors sat across a long white negotiating table in a plain service structure just adjacent to the landing strip of Busan's global terminal.

It was likely a demonstration of the major consequences that when Trump shook hands with the Chinese leader in Busan, he appeared