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American leader visits internationally have historically been an chance to display the influence of the US on the world stage. Trump's five-day tour through eastern Asia, on the other hand, has been a show of the authority of Trump – but also, at points, of that influence's boundaries.

The president's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the opening phase were an demonstration in satisfying a sometimes volatile American president. It was an recognition that Trump, with the signature of a hand, could enact tariffs and further steps that have the ability to devastate the economies of export-dependent nations.

His discussion with China's president Xi on the last day, nevertheless, was something entirely different.

It was a meeting of peers on the world platform, where the consequences for each country – for their financial health, for their global standing, for the prosperity of their people – were enormous.

With China, the US leader may flick his pen, but these moves come with ramifications. They involve a cost.

• The US president praises 'remarkable' meeting with the Chinese leader but no pact finalized
• The Chinese president and Trump find short-term ceasefire as Beijing adopts strategic patience

For the opening segment, Trump's most recent entry into international relations was uneventful.

Each stop was marked by a mix of standard trade negotiations – agreements made under the threat of the president's "reciprocal" taxes – and special treatment that at moments bordered on the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, the president secured entry to key materials and made headway toward finalizing commercial deals with regional partners. He also led a agreement that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace agreement" the US leader prefers to promote.

In the Japanese leg, the president's official aircraft passed by a Tokyo Tower lit red, white and blue – with a top in golden.

Newly elected Head Sanai Takaichi described $550 billion in Japanese investments in the America and gave the president a present of a quarter-thousand sakura trees for the United States' 250th anniversary, and a golf club and carrier that was owned by former Prime Minister Abe, the assassinated ex-leader who connected with Trump in his initial presidency.

She also became the latest foreign leader to suggest the president for his long-sought peace award.

Matching the effort, South Korea welcomed the president with guns performing a honor salute and a military band that rendered Hail to the Chief and YMCA – the musical group anthem that has evolved into a presidential event standard.

Head Lee held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he gave the American leader his state's top honor and a replica of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Midday meal with the Korean leader included a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gilded baked goods. Afterward, the South Koreans offered the president vineyard wine at an private meal in Trump's recognition with six world leaders present at the regional summit summit.

In the US, Trump may be the target of "No Kings" demonstrations by Americans who oppose his boundary-testing expansions of leader's control, but during his regional visit he was handled as nobility.

And like the rulers of old, Trump came to South Korea demanding contribution – in the guise of $200 billion in financial transfers, $20bn a year, from the host nation to the United States, to be used at the direction of the president's government. Agreement on the conditions of those transfers helped ensure that the duty level on host nation goods to the US would fall from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The main event of the president's Asia trip occurred in its concluding phase, nevertheless, as he met with the Chinese leader.

In that setting, the authority balance between counterparts of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly different than the meetings Trump had with his overseas colleagues in previous days.

Not present were typical pageantry and the display. Lacking service ensembles, no ceremonial troops, without thoughtfully prepared dining selections honoring bilateral friendship. By contrast, the pair of counterparts and their key staff sat across a long white discussion surface in a plain military building just off the runway of Busan's global terminal.

It was likely a demonstration of the major consequences that when Trump made contact with the Chinese leader in Busan, he seemed