Trump's East Asia Visit Involves Deals, Deference and a Revealing Final Meeting

American leader visits overseas have traditionally been an occasion to demonstrate the influence of the US on the global scene. The president's multi-day trip through eastern Asia, by contrast, has been a show of the authority of Trump – but also, at points, of that power's limitations.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the first four days were an display in catering to a occasionally mercurial president. It was an acknowledgement that the leader, with the flick of a document, could enact tariffs and other measures that have the capacity to harm the markets of export-dependent countries.

His meeting with Beijing's head Xi Jinping on the last day, however, was a completely different scenario.

It was a meeting of peers on the global stage, where the risks for the two powers – for their economies, for their world reputation, for the prosperity of their citizens – were immense.

With Beijing, Trump may wave his pen, but these moves involve ramifications. They carry a price.

• The US president praises 'impressive' encounter with the Chinese leader but no pact finalized
• Xi and the US leader find brief pause as Beijing plays longer game

For the initial phase, the president's recent entry into world politics was successful.

Each visit was marked by a blend of traditional commercial discussions – agreements made under the threat of Trump's "equivalent" tariffs – and individual concessions that at moments bordered on the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, Trump obtained rights to key materials and made headway toward completing commercial deals with regional partners. He also led a treaty that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "truce" the American president enjoys to promote.

In Japan, the president's helicopter soared near a famous structure lit American colors – with a summit in golden.

Newly elected Leader Takaichi outlined $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the US and offered the American president a gift of two hundred fifty sakura trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a golf equipment and bag that came from the late leader, the murdered ex-leader who connected with the president in his first term.

She also became the latest foreign leader to suggest Trump for his highly-coveted international honor.

Not to be outdone, Korea received Trump with guns performing a honor salute and a service ensemble that played Hail to the Chief and YMCA – the musical group song that has turned into a Trump rally standard.

President the Korean president held an "award event" for Trump during which he presented the American leader his country's top honor and a replica of an historical royal headpiece.

Midday meal with the Korean leader included a "Conciliatory Treat" of gold-encrusted chocolate squares. Later that day, the Koreans provided the president vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's recognition with half-dozen world leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference conference.

In the America, Trump may be the target of "Anti-Monarchy" rallies by US citizens who oppose his boundary-testing expansions of presidential power, but during his regional tour he was treated like royalty.

And like the rulers of ancient times, Trump visited South Korea demanding contribution – in the form of $200 billion in cash payments, $20 billion a per year, from the host nation to the United States, to be used at the direction of Trump's leadership. Agreement on the conditions of those transfers assisted in that the duty level on South Korean products to the United States would drop from twenty-five percent to under twenty percent.

The main event of the president's regional visit came in its last moments, however, as he sat down with Xi.

There, the power dynamic between counterparts of the world's two largest economies was decidedly distinct than the meetings Trump had with his foreign counterparts in previous days.

Missing were typical pageantry and the display. No service ensembles, absent ceremonial troops, no meticulously designed meal plans marking shared goodwill. Instead, the pair of counterparts and their top aides sat across a extended light-colored negotiating table in a nondescript service structure just adjacent to the landing strip of the city of Busan's air transport hub.

It was possibly a demonstration of the significant risks that when Trump shook hands with Xi in Busan, he looked