The US President's East Asia Tour Features Deals, Knee-Bending and a Significant Final Meeting

Presidential journeys internationally have typically been an chance to showcase the influence of the United States on the international platform. The president's multi-day swing through East Asia, by contrast, has been a demonstration of the authority of the leader – but also, at points, of that power's limitations.

The president's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the span of the initial days were an display in satisfying a occasionally mercurial American president. It was an recognition that Trump, with the flick of a pen, could impose tariffs and additional actions that have the ability to devastate the economies of export-oriented countries.

His discussion with China's president Xi on the last day, though, was a completely different scenario.

It was a session of counterparts on the global stage, where the stakes for both nations – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the welfare of their people – were enormous.

With China, the US leader may flick his pen, but these moves entail consequences. They involve a price.

• The US president hails 'amazing' meeting with Xi but no pact reached
• The Chinese president and the US leader reach brief pause as Beijing adopts strategic patience

For the first four days, Trump's recent entry into global diplomacy was smooth sailing.

Each visit was punctuated by a mix of traditional trade negotiations – agreements made under the pressure of the president's "mutual" tariffs – and individual concessions that at times verged on the subservient.

In Malaysia, Trump obtained access to key materials and made progress toward completing economic agreements with south-east Asian nations. He also led a agreement that should ease frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "truce" the US leader prefers to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's helicopter soared near a Tokyo Tower lit American colors – with a top in gilded.

Recently chosen Head the Japanese leader described $550 billion in Tokyo's funding in the US and offered the US leader a gift of two hundred fifty cherry trees for the United States' 250th birthday, and a golf equipment and case that came from former Prime Minister Abe, the killed former prime minister who connected with Trump in his initial presidency.

She also became the latest international head to propose Trump for his long-sought international honor.

Not to be outdone, the Korean government welcomed Trump with artillery performing a honor salute and a military band that played the presidential anthem and the Village People song – the musical group tune that has turned into a political gathering anthem.

Leader the Korean president held an "award event" for the US leader during which he awarded the American leader his state's highest medal and a copy of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Midday meal with the Korean leader included a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-covered chocolate squares. Later that day, the South Koreans offered Trump vineyard wine at an exclusive gathering in Trump's honor with half-dozen world leaders participating in the regional summit meeting.

In the US, Trump may be the subject of "No Kings" rallies by US citizens who disapprove of his boundary-testing increases of presidential power, but during his Asian visit he was handled as nobility.

And like the monarchs of ancient times, the president came to the Korean nation requesting payment – in the guise of $200bn in cash payments, $20bn a per year, from Korea to the America, to be used at the direction of the president's leadership. Agreement on the terms of those payments helped ensure that the tax percentage on South Korean goods to the United States would decrease from a quarter to fifteen percent.

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

In that setting, the authority balance between heads of the world's two largest economies was noticeably divergent than the meetings the president had with his foreign counterparts in previous days.

Absent were the usual pageantry and the display. Lacking armed forces orchestras, without protocol units, no thoughtfully prepared meal plans marking bilateral friendship. Rather, the both heads and their key staff positioned themselves across a extended light-colored meeting furniture in a plain service structure just off the runway of Busan's air transport hub.

It was possibly a indication of the major consequences that when the president exchanged greetings with Xi in the southern port, he appeared