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Presidential journeys abroad have traditionally been an occasion to demonstrate the influence of the American nation on the international platform. The president's five-day tour through East Asia, by contrast, has been a demonstration of the power of the leader – but also, at moments, of that influence's limitations.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the duration of the opening phase were an display in catering to a sometimes mercurial US leader. It was an admission that the president, with the stroke of a pen, could enact taxes and additional actions that have the ability to harm the markets of export-dependent nations.

His sit-down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, though, was a completely different scenario.

It was a encounter of equals on the international scene, where the risks for the two powers – for their economies, for their world reputation, for the prosperity of their citizens – were significant.

With the Chinese, Trump may use his authority, but those steps come with repercussions. They come with a cost.

• The US president hails 'impressive' meeting with Xi but no agreement agreed
• Xi and the US leader establish short-term ceasefire as Beijing adopts strategic patience

For the opening segment, Trump's latest foray into global diplomacy was uneventful.

Each destination was characterized by a blend of conventional economic talks – deals made under the pressure of Trump's "equivalent" taxes – and individual concessions that at points verged on the subservient.

In Malaysia, the president gained entry to key materials and made progress toward completing economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also led a agreement that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace deal" the American president enjoys to tout.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's helicopter passed by a landmark tower lit red, white and blue – with a peak in gilded.

Recently chosen Head the Japanese leader detailed $550 billion in Japanese investments in the United States and presented the president a offering of a quarter-thousand sakura trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a golf equipment and bag that was owned by the late leader, the murdered ex-leader who connected with the president in his first term.

She also became the most recent international head to suggest Trump for his much-desired Nobel Peace Prize.

Matching the effort, the Korean government welcomed Trump with cannons discharging a honor salute and a service ensemble that performed the leader's song and YMCA – the band anthem that has turned into a presidential event anthem.

President the Korean president held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he gave the president his nation's highest medal and a model of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Midday meal with the Korean leader featured a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-encrusted brownies. Afterward, the hosts served Trump premium vintage at an intimate dinner in the president's recognition with multiple world leaders participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference summit.

In the United States, Trump may be the target of "Anti-Authority" rallies by US citizens who oppose his boundary-testing extensions of presidential power, but during his regional visit he was treated like royalty.

And like the monarchs of old, Trump arrived in South Korea seeking contribution – in the guise of $200bn in cash payments, $20 billion a year, from South Korea to the United States, to be invested at the guidance of the president's government. Agreement on the details of those payments contributed to that the tax percentage on South Korean products to the US would drop from 25% to 15%.

The central moment of Trump's regional visit occurred in its last moments, nevertheless, as he sat down with Xi.

At that location, the authority balance between counterparts of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly divergent than the interactions Trump had with his foreign counterparts in prior visits.

Absent were typical ceremony and the pageantry. Without any military bands, without honour guards, missing meticulously designed dining selections marking shared goodwill. Rather, the both heads and their key staff positioned themselves across a extended light-colored discussion surface in a plain service structure just off the runway of the southern port's global terminal.

It was possibly a indication of the high stakes that when the president made contact with Xi in Busan, he looked