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American leader visits overseas have typically been an chance to demonstrate the power of the US on the international platform. The president's five-day tour through eastern Asia, conversely, has been a show of the power of the president – but also, at moments, of that influence's boundaries.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the opening phase were an display in catering to a at times volatile American president. It was an acknowledgement that Trump, with the flick of a hand, could introduce taxes and further steps that have the potential to damage the markets of export-oriented nations.

His sit-down with Beijing's head Xi on Thursday, though, was a distinct situation.

It was a meeting of peers on the global stage, where the risks for both nations – for their financial health, for their world reputation, for the welfare of their people – were immense.

With Beijing, the president may wave his power, but such actions entail consequences. They carry a price.

• Trump hails 'amazing' encounter with Xi but no agreement reached
• Xi and Trump find brief pause as Beijing adopts strategic patience

For the initial phase, Trump's latest venture into global diplomacy was uneventful.

Each visit was marked by a blend of traditional commercial discussions – arrangements made under the pressure of Trump's "equivalent" tariffs – and personal accommodations that at times bordered on the subservient.

In Malaysia, the president secured access to key materials and made progress toward finalizing trade arrangements with south-east Asian nations. He also presided over a pact that should ease frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace agreement" the American president enjoys to tout.

In the Japanese leg, the president's helicopter passed by a famous structure displayed US flag colors – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Freshly appointed Prime Minister Takaichi described $550 billion in Japan's financial commitments in the US and gave the American president a offering of two hundred fifty sakura trees for America's semiquincentennial, and a golf club and case that belonged to Shinzo Abe, the murdered ex-leader who developed ties with Trump in his first term.

She also became the latest international head to nominate the president for his long-sought Nobel Peace Prize.

Keeping pace, South Korea greeted the president with guns performing a honor salute and a armed forces orchestra that rendered Hail to the Chief and the Village People song – the Village People song that has evolved into a political gathering anthem.

President Lee held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he awarded the president his country's top honor and a replica of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Noon repast with the Korean leader featured a "Conciliatory Treat" of gold-encrusted brownies. Subsequently, the hosts served Trump vineyard wine at an exclusive gathering in Trump's recognition with six world leaders present at the APEC summit.

In the US, Trump may be the focus of "No Kings" protests by US citizens who oppose his authority-expanding extensions of presidential power, but during his Asian tour he was received as royalty.

And like the monarchs of history, the president arrived in the Korean nation seeking contribution – in the form of $200bn in financial transfers, $20 billion a year, from Korea to the United States, to be used at the direction of Trump's administration. Consent on the details of those contributions helped ensure that the duty level on host nation exports to the United States would drop from twenty-five percent to under twenty percent.

The primary focus of Trump's Asia trip took place in its concluding phase, however, as he met with Xi.

At that location, the authority balance between leaders of the world's two largest economies was noticeably distinct than the exchanges the president had with his international peers in prior visits.

Missing were typical ceremony and the pageantry. Lacking service ensembles, no protocol units, without meticulously designed meal plans honoring shared goodwill. By contrast, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors sat across a extended light-colored negotiating table in a plain military building just adjacent to the landing strip of the southern port's global terminal.

It was perhaps a reflection of the major consequences that when the president shook hands with Xi in the southern port, he seemed