Trump's Asia Visit Involves Deals, Knee-Bending and a Insightful Final Meeting

Presidential journeys overseas have traditionally been an opportunity to display the power of the United States on the international platform. Donald Trump's five-day tour through East Asia, on the other hand, has been a show of the authority of Trump – but also, at points, of that influence's boundaries.

The president's stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the opening phase were an exercise in satisfying a at times mercurial US leader. It was an recognition that the president, with the stroke of a hand, could enact duties and additional actions that have the potential to devastate the financial systems of export-oriented states.

His sit-down with China's president Xi on the last day, however, was a distinct situation.

It was a meeting of peers on the world platform, where the stakes for each country – for their economies, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their citizens – were enormous.

With China, Trump may wave his power, but those steps involve consequences. They come with a cost.

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For the first four days, the president's recent foray into world politics was successful.

Each stop was punctuated by a mix of traditional trade negotiations – deals made under the pressure of Trump's "mutual" duties – and individual concessions that at points bordered on the obsequious.

In the Malaysian stop, the president obtained rights to essential resources and made advances toward concluding economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also oversaw a pact that should reduce territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "truce" the president enjoys to highlight.

In Japan, the president's official aircraft soared near a Tokyo Tower illuminated US flag colors – with a top in Trumpian gold.

Freshly appointed Leader the Japanese leader detailed $550 billion in Tokyo's funding in the United States and gave the American president a present of 250 sakura trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf club and case that was owned by former Prime Minister Abe, the assassinated former prime minister who developed ties with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the latest foreign leader to nominate Trump for his highly-coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

Not to be outdone, South Korea welcomed the president with cannons discharging a 21-gun salute and a armed forces orchestra that rendered the leader's song and the classic tune – the Village People tune that has turned into a political gathering standard.

President Lee held an "award event" for the US leader during which he awarded the US president his country's top honor and a replica of an historical royal headpiece.

Midday meal with the Korean leader featured a "Conciliatory Treat" of gilded brownies. Afterward, the South Koreans offered Trump vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in Trump's recognition with six global figures attending the APEC meeting.

In the US, Trump may be the target of "Anti-Monarchy" demonstrations by US citizens who reject his boundary-testing extensions of leader's control, but during his regional visit he was received as nobility.

And like the kings of old, Trump came to South Korea demanding payment – in the shape of $200bn in cash payments, $20 billion a year, from South Korea to the United States, to be used at the direction of the president's leadership. Agreement on the terms of those transfers assisted in that the tariff rate on South Korean exports to the America would decrease from a quarter to under twenty percent.

The central moment of Trump's Asian tour came in its concluding phase, however, as he sat down with Xi.

At that location, the authority balance between leaders of the global top two markets was decidedly divergent than the interactions the president had with his foreign counterparts in previous days.

Absent were the usual ceremony and the spectacle. Without any service ensembles, no protocol units, no thoughtfully prepared menus honoring mutual national affection. Rather, the two leaders and their top aides sat across a large pale negotiating table in a nondescript service structure just near the airstrip of the city of Busan's air transport hub.

It was likely a demonstration of the high stakes that when the president made contact with Xi in the Korean city, he looked