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Presidential journeys internationally have typically been an chance to display the power of the US on the global scene. The president's five-day trip through Asian nations, conversely, has been a show of the power of the leader – but also, at times, of that influence's boundaries.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the opening phase were an exercise in catering to a occasionally unpredictable US leader. It was an recognition that Trump, with the signature of a pen, could introduce tariffs and other measures that have the potential to damage the economies of export-oriented countries.

His sit-down with Beijing's head Xi on Thursday, though, was a distinct situation.

It was a encounter of peers on the world platform, where the stakes for both nations – for their economies, for their international prestige, for the prosperity of their populations – were enormous.

With China, Trump may flick his authority, but such actions entail repercussions. They carry a cost.

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For the first four days, the president's latest venture into global diplomacy was uneventful.

Each destination was punctuated by a combination of conventional commercial discussions – agreements made under the threat of the president's "reciprocal" duties – and personal accommodations that at moments verged on the deferential.

In Malaysia, the president obtained rights to critical minerals and made progress toward completing commercial deals with regional partners. He also oversaw a treaty that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace agreement" the US leader enjoys to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's Marine One soared near a landmark tower illuminated US flag colors – with a top in Trumpian gold.

Freshly appointed Prime Minister the Japanese leader detailed $half-trillion in Tokyo's funding in the US and offered the president a offering of two hundred fifty sakura trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a sports gear and bag that came from the late leader, the murdered former prime minister who developed ties with the president in his first term.

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

Not to be outdone, Korea received the president with guns firing a traditional greeting and a armed forces orchestra that played Hail to the Chief and YMCA – the band anthem that has turned into a Trump rally standard.

Leader Lee held an "award event" for the US leader during which he presented the American leader his state's highest medal and a copy of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Noon repast with Lee featured a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-covered brownies. Afterward, the South Koreans served the president fine beverage at an exclusive gathering in Trump's honour with multiple global figures participating in the APEC meeting.

In the US, the president may be the subject of "No Kings" rallies by US citizens who disapprove of his limit-pushing expansions of executive authority, but during his East Asia tour he was received as royalty.

And like the kings of history, the president arrived in South Korea demanding contribution – in the shape of $200 billion in cash payments, $20 billion a per year, from Korea to the America, to be invested at the discretion of Trump's leadership. Approval on the terms of those contributions assisted in that the tax percentage on South Korean products to the America would decrease from twenty-five percent to fifteen percent.

The main event of the president's regional visit took place in its last moments, nevertheless, as he encountered the Chinese leader.

There, the influence relationship between heads of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly different than the exchanges the president had with his overseas colleagues in earlier stops.

Missing were all the ceremony and the pageantry. Lacking service ensembles, no ceremonial troops, missing carefully crafted menus marking bilateral friendship. Instead, the two leaders and their top aides were seated across a large pale meeting furniture in a plain armed forces facility just near the airstrip of the southern port's global terminal.

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