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US presidential trips internationally have typically been an occasion to showcase the influence of the American nation on the world stage. The president's five-day tour through eastern Asia, conversely, has been a display of the clout of the president – but also, at times, of that influence's limitations.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the opening phase were an display in satisfying a sometimes volatile American president. It was an recognition that the president, with the signature of a pen, could enact taxes and additional actions that have the capacity to devastate the markets of export-dependent states.

His discussion with Beijing's head Xi on Thursday, however, was a distinct situation.

It was a session of equals on the world platform, where the risks for both nations – for their markets, for their international prestige, for the welfare of their populations – were enormous.

With Beijing, the president may flick his pen, but such actions entail consequences. They come with a toll.

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For the opening segment, the president's recent venture into world politics was uneventful.

Each destination was characterized by a mix of conventional commercial discussions – deals made under the pressure of Trump's "mutual" duties – and personal accommodations that at times bordered on the obsequious.

In Malaysia, Trump obtained access to key materials and made headway toward finalizing economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also presided over a agreement that should ease border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace agreement" the US leader prefers to promote.

In Japan, the president's Marine One soared near a Tokyo Tower displayed US flag colors – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Freshly appointed Head the Japanese leader outlined $half-trillion in Japanese investments in the United States and presented the American president a present of 250 sakura trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a golf club and case that belonged to the late leader, the killed ex-leader who connected with the president in his initial presidency.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to propose Trump for his highly-coveted peace award.

Matching the effort, South Korea welcomed Trump with artillery firing a traditional greeting and a service ensemble that rendered Hail to the Chief and the Village People song – the musical group tune that has evolved into a Trump rally theme.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for Trump during which he presented the president his country's highest medal and a copy of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Noon repast with the Korean leader featured a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-encrusted baked goods. Subsequently, the Koreans offered Trump fine beverage at an intimate dinner in the president's honor with six global figures attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference meeting.

In the America, the president may be the target of "Anti-Monarchy" protests by the public who reject his authority-expanding expansions of presidential power, but during his East Asia tour he was handled as monarchy.

And like the kings of old, the president visited Korea seeking payment – in the form of $two hundred billion in financial transfers, $twenty billion a per year, from South Korea to the America, to be used at the guidance of Trump's administration. Approval on the terms of those transfers assisted in that the duty level on Korean products to the US would drop from 25% to 15%.

The main event of the president's Asian tour came in its final hours, though, as he met with Xi.

There, the influence relationship between counterparts of the global top two markets was markedly different than the interactions Trump had with his international peers in previous days.

Missing were typical pomp and the pageantry. No service ensembles, no ceremonial troops, missing meticulously designed meal plans marking bilateral friendship. Instead, the both heads and their senior advisors positioned themselves across a long white meeting furniture in a unremarkable military building just near the airstrip of the city of Busan's global terminal.

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