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American leader visits abroad have historically been an opportunity to demonstrate the influence of the American nation on the global scene. Trump's week-long tour through eastern Asia, on the other hand, has been a demonstration of the power of the leader – but also, at times, of that authority's limitations.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the first four days were an demonstration in pleasing a sometimes unpredictable president. It was an acknowledgement that the leader, with the stroke of a document, could introduce taxes and other measures that have the ability to devastate the financial systems of trade-reliant countries.

His sit-down with Beijing's head Xi on Thursday, though, was something entirely different.

It was a session of equals on the world platform, where the consequences for each country – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the prosperity of their people – were enormous.

With the Chinese, Trump may use his pen, but such actions involve repercussions. They carry a price.

• Trump hails 'remarkable' encounter with the Chinese leader but no pact reached
• Xi and the US leader reach temporary truce as Beijing adopts strategic patience

For the first four days, Trump's recent foray into world politics was uneventful.

Each destination was marked by a blend of conventional commercial discussions – deals made under the shadow of Trump's "equivalent" tariffs – and personal accommodations that at points verged on the obsequious.

In the Malaysian stop, the president gained rights to key materials and made headway toward finalizing economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also oversaw a treaty that should ease border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace deal" the US leader prefers to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, the president's Marine One passed by a famous structure lit US flag colors – with a summit in gilded.

Freshly appointed Prime Minister Takaichi described $half-trillion in Japanese investments in the America and gave the president a offering of two hundred fifty cherry trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf club and carrier that came from Shinzo Abe, the assassinated former prime minister who developed ties with the president in his first term.

She also became the latest international head to nominate Trump for his much-desired Nobel Peace Prize.

Keeping pace, Korea received the president with guns discharging a traditional greeting and a armed forces orchestra that played the presidential anthem and the classic tune – the musical group song that has turned into a political gathering standard.

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

Noon repast with the Korean leader included a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-encrusted chocolate squares. Later that day, the Koreans provided Trump premium vintage at an exclusive gathering in the president's recognition with multiple world leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference summit.

In the America, Trump may be the subject of "No Kings" protests by US citizens who disapprove of his boundary-testing increases of executive authority, but during his regional visit he was treated like nobility.

And like the rulers of old, the president came to the Korean nation requesting tribute – in the shape of $200 billion in cash payments, $20bn a year, from South Korea to the America, to be used at the discretion of the president's leadership. Agreement on the conditions of those payments assisted in that the duty level on host nation goods to the United States would decrease from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The main event of the president's Asian tour took place in its final hours, however, as he sat down with Xi.

There, the influence relationship between counterparts of the world's two largest economies was noticeably divergent than the exchanges Trump had with his international peers in prior visits.

Not present were typical pageantry and the pageantry. Lacking service ensembles, without honour guards, no meticulously designed dining selections marking shared goodwill. Instead, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors sat across a extended light-colored negotiating table in a plain military building just off the runway of Busan's global terminal.

It was likely a demonstration of the high stakes that when the president shook hands with the Chinese leader in the southern port, he seemed