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US presidential trips overseas have traditionally been an opportunity to display the strength of the United States on the world stage. Trump's five-day swing through Asian nations, conversely, has been a show of the authority of the leader – but also, at moments, of that influence's constraints.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the span of the first four days were an exercise in satisfying a occasionally volatile US leader. It was an admission that the president, with the flick of a pen, could introduce taxes and further steps that have the capacity to devastate the markets of export-dependent countries.

His meeting with Beijing's head Xi Jinping on Thursday, nevertheless, was something entirely different.

It was a meeting of peers on the world platform, where the risks for both nations – for their markets, for their world reputation, for the welfare of their citizens – were enormous.

With the Chinese, the US leader may wave his power, but these moves come with ramifications. They carry a price.

• The US president hails 'impressive' encounter with the Chinese leader but no pact agreed
• Xi and Trump establish temporary truce as Beijing pursues extended strategy

For the opening segment, the president's most recent foray into international relations was uneventful.

Each destination was marked by a mix of traditional economic talks – arrangements made under the threat of Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs – and individual concessions that at times approached the subservient.

In Malaysia, the president secured entry to critical minerals and made advances toward finalizing trade arrangements with regional partners. He also presided over a pact that should alleviate territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace agreement" the president enjoys to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's helicopter soared near a Tokyo Tower illuminated red, white and blue – with a peak in gilded.

Newly elected Leader Sanai Takaichi described $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the United States and presented the US leader a present of 250 flowering trees for America's 250th birthday, and a golf equipment and bag that was owned by the late leader, the murdered ex-leader who bonded with Trump in his previous administration.

She also became the latest international head to suggest the president for his much-desired international honor.

Not to be outdone, Korea greeted the president with artillery discharging a 21-gun salute and a service ensemble that rendered the presidential anthem and YMCA – the musical group song that has evolved into a presidential event theme.

Leader the Korean president held an "recognition ritual" for Trump during which he gave the US president his country's highest medal and a model of an historical royal headpiece.

Noon repast with Lee included a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-covered brownies. Later that day, the Koreans served Trump vineyard wine at an exclusive gathering in the president's honour with multiple global figures present at the APEC meeting.

In the America, the president may be the subject of "No Kings" demonstrations by US citizens who disapprove of his limit-pushing expansions of leader's control, but during his Asian tour he was handled as nobility.

And like the monarchs of history, Trump arrived in Korea requesting payment – in the guise of $two hundred billion in financial transfers, $twenty billion a year, from Korea to the US, to be used at the direction of Trump's administration. Approval on the terms of those contributions contributed to that the tariff rate on host nation products to the United States would decrease from 25% to 15%.

The main event of the president's regional visit came in its final hours, however, as he met with the Chinese leader.

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

Absent were all the pomp and the display. No military bands, no protocol units, without meticulously designed dining selections marking shared goodwill. Instead, the two leaders and their top aides positioned themselves across a large pale discussion surface in a unremarkable armed forces facility just near the airstrip of the southern port's international airport.

It was likely a reflection of the major consequences that when Trump made contact with Xi in Busan, he appeared