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Presidential journeys internationally have typically been an occasion to demonstrate the strength of the US on the global scene. Donald Trump's multi-day tour through East Asia, by contrast, has been a demonstration of the clout of the president – but also, at times, of that power's limitations.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the initial days were an exercise in satisfying a sometimes unpredictable president. It was an recognition that the leader, with the flick of a pen, could introduce tariffs and additional actions that have the ability to damage the markets of export-dependent states.

His meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, however, was something entirely different.

It was a meeting of equals on the international scene, where the stakes for both nations – for their financial health, for their world reputation, for the welfare of their citizens – were enormous.

With the Chinese, the president may use his power, but these moves involve repercussions. They come with a cost.

• Trump praises 'impressive' encounter with Xi but no pact reached
• Xi and the US leader reach temporary truce as China plays longer game

For the initial phase, Trump's most recent foray into global diplomacy was uneventful.

Each stop was marked by a mix of standard commercial discussions – agreements made under the threat of Trump's "reciprocal" duties – and personal accommodations that at moments approached the deferential.

In the Malaysian stop, the president secured entry to key materials and made headway toward finalizing economic agreements with south-east Asian nations. He also led a agreement that should reduce territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "truce" the US leader loves to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, the president's official aircraft passed by a landmark tower illuminated American colors – with a summit in golden.

Newly elected Head the Japanese leader described $550bn in Japanese investments in the United States and gave the president a present of a quarter-thousand flowering trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a sports gear and bag that belonged to the late leader, the killed former prime minister who bonded with the president in his first term.

She also became the latest foreign leader to propose the president for his highly-coveted peace award.

Keeping pace, South Korea received the president with artillery performing a 21-gun salute and a service ensemble that performed the leader's song and the Village People song – the band anthem that has evolved into a Trump rally anthem.

President Lee Jae Myung held an "recognition ritual" for the US leader during which he gave the US president his state's highest medal and a copy of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Midday meal with the Korean leader included a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gilded brownies. Later that day, the Koreans served the president vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's honour with half-dozen world leaders present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference summit.

In the America, the president may be the focus of "No Kings" demonstrations by Americans who disapprove of his limit-pushing expansions of presidential power, but during his Asian swing he was treated like monarchy.

And like the rulers of history, the president arrived in the Korean nation demanding tribute – in the shape of $200 billion in monetary contributions, $20bn a year, from the host nation to the America, to be used at the direction of Trump's leadership. Consent on the conditions of those transfers contributed to that the tax percentage on host nation products to the United States would fall from twenty-five percent to fifteen percent.

The primary focus of the president's regional visit occurred in its last moments, though, as he encountered the Chinese leader.

At that location, the influence relationship between leaders of the planet's biggest economic powers was markedly different than the exchanges Trump had with his international peers in prior visits.

Absent were typical ceremony and the spectacle. Without any service ensembles, no honour guards, missing thoughtfully prepared menus marking bilateral friendship. Instead, the two leaders and their senior advisors sat across a extended light-colored negotiating table in a unremarkable service structure just near the airstrip of the city of Busan's international airport.

It was possibly a demonstration of the significant risks that when the president made contact with Xi in the southern port, he seemed