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Presidential journeys abroad have typically been an opportunity to showcase the influence of the US on the global scene. Donald Trump's five-day swing through Asian nations, conversely, has been a display of the power of the leader – but also, at moments, of that influence's boundaries.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the initial days were an demonstration in satisfying a sometimes unpredictable US leader. It was an admission that Trump, with the signature of a hand, could impose duties and additional actions that have the ability to harm the markets of trade-reliant states.

His sit-down with Chinese leader Xi on Thursday, however, was a distinct situation.

It was a encounter of equals on the world platform, where the consequences for each country – for their markets, for their global standing, for the prosperity of their populations – were immense.

With the Chinese, the president may use his pen, but those steps involve repercussions. They carry a cost.

• The US president describes 'remarkable' talks with the Chinese leader but no agreement reached
• Xi and Trump find brief pause as China pursues extended strategy

For the initial phase, Trump's most recent venture into international relations was smooth sailing.

Each destination was punctuated by a combination of conventional commercial discussions – agreements made under the shadow of the president's "mutual" tariffs – and special treatment that at times approached the obsequious.

In the Malaysian stop, Trump gained rights to key materials and made progress toward finalizing trade arrangements with ASEAN countries. He also led a agreement that should alleviate territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace agreement" the president enjoys to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's official aircraft flew past a Tokyo Tower displayed red, white and blue – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Newly elected Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi outlined $550 billion in Tokyo's funding in the United States and presented the president a present of a quarter-thousand sakura trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a golf equipment and carrier that was owned by former Prime Minister Abe, the assassinated past head who developed ties with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the most recent overseas counterpart to suggest Trump for his much-desired international honor.

Keeping pace, South Korea received Trump with artillery performing a honor salute and a military band that performed the leader's song and YMCA – the musical group anthem that has turned into a presidential event standard.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for Trump during which he gave the president his country's top honor and a model of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Midday meal with the Korean leader featured a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gilded baked goods. Afterward, the hosts provided Trump vineyard wine at an private meal in the president's honor with multiple world leaders participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference summit.

In the US, Trump may be the focus of "No Kings" demonstrations by US citizens who reject his authority-expanding increases of leader's control, but during his Asian tour he was handled as monarchy.

And like the kings of ancient times, the president arrived in South Korea demanding tribute – in the form of $200bn in cash payments, $20bn a per year, from South Korea to the America, to be used at the direction of Trump's administration. Consent on the conditions of those transfers assisted in that the tax percentage on South Korean products to the US would decrease from a quarter to under twenty percent.

The central moment of Trump's Asian tour came in its last moments, however, as he met with the Chinese leader.

At that location, the authority balance between leaders of the world's two largest economies was decidedly divergent than the meetings the president had with his international peers in previous days.

Absent were typical ceremony and the display. Without any armed forces orchestras, no honour guards, without carefully crafted menus honoring shared goodwill. By contrast, the two leaders and their key staff sat across a extended light-colored meeting furniture in a plain military building just off the runway of the city of Busan's air transport hub.

It was perhaps a indication of the major consequences that when the president exchanged greetings with the Chinese leader in the Korean city, he seemed