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Presidential journeys overseas have typically been an occasion to showcase the influence of the American nation on the global scene. Donald Trump's week-long tour through East Asia, by contrast, has been a display of the power of the leader – but also, at times, of that influence's limitations.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the initial days were an exercise in catering to a occasionally volatile US leader. It was an recognition that the leader, with the flick of a pen, could impose taxes and additional actions that have the potential to devastate the markets of export-dependent states.

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

It was a meeting of counterparts on the international scene, where the risks for both nations – for their markets, for their world reputation, for the prosperity of their populations – were enormous.

With China, the US leader may flick his authority, but those steps entail repercussions. They involve a price.

• Trump praises 'impressive' encounter with the Chinese leader but no agreement reached
• The Chinese president and the US leader establish short-term ceasefire as Beijing pursues extended strategy

For the first four days, the president's latest foray into international relations was uneventful.

Each visit was marked by a blend of conventional trade negotiations – arrangements made under the pressure of the president's "reciprocal" taxes – and individual concessions that at points approached the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, the president secured rights to critical minerals and made headway toward concluding trade arrangements with ASEAN countries. He also led a treaty that should alleviate border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace deal" the American president prefers to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, the president's helicopter passed by a Tokyo Tower lit US flag colors – with a summit in gilded.

Newly elected Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi outlined $half-trillion in Japanese investments in the America and gave the US leader a offering of two hundred fifty sakura trees for the United States' 250th birthday, and a golf club and carrier that came from Shinzo Abe, the assassinated ex-leader who developed ties with the president in his first term.

She also became the most recent overseas counterpart to propose Trump for his long-sought international honor.

Matching the effort, South Korea greeted Trump with guns performing a 21-gun salute and a armed forces orchestra that played the presidential anthem and YMCA – the Village People anthem that has become a presidential event standard.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "recognition ritual" for Trump during which he presented the president his state's premier award and a copy of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Noon repast with Lee included a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gilded brownies. Afterward, the Koreans offered Trump premium vintage at an private meal in Trump's honor with half-dozen global figures attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference conference.

In the America, the president may be the target of "Anti-Monarchy" rallies by US citizens who oppose his boundary-testing increases of executive authority, but during his Asian visit he was handled as royalty.

And like the kings of old, the president visited the Korean nation demanding tribute – in the shape of $200bn in monetary contributions, $twenty billion a per year, from the host nation to the US, to be used at the direction of Trump's government. Agreement on the details of those transfers helped ensure that the tariff rate on Korean goods to the United States would fall from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The primary focus of the president's regional visit came in its last moments, nevertheless, as he sat down with the Chinese leader.

In that setting, the influence relationship between heads of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly distinct than the interactions Trump had with his international peers in previous days.

Missing were the usual ceremony and the pageantry. Without any armed forces orchestras, no honour guards, no meticulously designed menus celebrating shared goodwill. Rather, the two leaders and their top aides positioned themselves across a long white meeting furniture in a plain armed forces facility just off the runway of Busan's air transport hub.

It was likely a reflection of the major consequences that when the president exchanged greetings with Xi in the Korean city, he seemed