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US presidential trips internationally have historically been an occasion to demonstrate the strength of the US on the global scene. The president's week-long tour through East Asia, on the other hand, has been a demonstration of the authority of the president – but also, at times, of that influence's limitations.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the initial days were an exercise in pleasing a sometimes unpredictable US leader. It was an acknowledgement that Trump, with the flick of a document, could introduce tariffs and additional actions that have the capacity to devastate the economies of export-oriented countries.

His meeting with Beijing's head Xi on the final day, nevertheless, was something entirely different.

It was a meeting of counterparts on the international scene, where the stakes for both nations – for their economies, for their world reputation, for the well-being of their populations – were enormous.

With the Chinese, the president may wave his power, but those steps come with consequences. They involve a price.

• Trump describes 'amazing' talks with Xi but no agreement agreed
• The Chinese president and the US leader establish brief pause as Beijing adopts strategic patience

For the first four days, Trump's latest venture into global diplomacy was successful.

Each destination was marked by a combination of traditional economic talks – arrangements made under the pressure of the president's "mutual" tariffs – and special treatment that at times bordered on the subservient.

In Malaysia, the president secured access to essential resources and made headway toward finalizing economic agreements with south-east Asian nations. He also oversaw a pact that should alleviate territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "truce" the American president loves to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, the president's official aircraft soared near a famous structure lit red, white and blue – with a peak in golden.

Recently chosen Prime Minister the Japanese leader outlined $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the United States and presented the president a present of a quarter-thousand sakura trees for America's semiquincentennial, and a golf club and case that belonged to Shinzo Abe, the killed ex-leader who connected with Trump in his first term.

She also became the newest overseas counterpart to nominate Trump for his much-desired peace award.

Keeping pace, South Korea received Trump with cannons discharging a 21-gun salute and a service ensemble that performed Hail to the Chief and the classic tune – the band tune that has become a Trump rally theme.

Head Lee held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he awarded the president his country's highest medal and a model of an historical royal headpiece.

Noon repast with the Korean leader featured a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-encrusted chocolate squares. Later that day, the Koreans provided the president vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's honor with six global figures participating in the regional summit summit.

In the US, Trump may be the focus of "Anti-Monarchy" rallies by the public who oppose his authority-expanding expansions of leader's control, but during his East Asia swing he was handled as royalty.

And like the rulers of history, Trump visited South Korea demanding tribute – 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 administration. Consent on the terms of those transfers contributed to that the tax percentage on Korean exports to the America would drop from twenty-five percent to under twenty percent.

The main event of the president's Asia trip took place in its final hours, nevertheless, as he encountered Xi.

There, the power dynamic between leaders of the global top two markets was decidedly different than the meetings the president had with his international peers in previous days.

Absent were the usual ceremony and the pageantry. No service ensembles, no ceremonial troops, no thoughtfully prepared menus honoring mutual national affection. Instead, the both heads and their senior advisors sat across a large pale negotiating table in a nondescript service structure just near the airstrip of the southern port's air transport hub.

It was possibly a indication of the high stakes that when the president exchanged greetings with the Chinese leader in the southern port, he seemed