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American leader visits overseas have traditionally been an opportunity to showcase the strength of the US on the world stage. The president's five-day tour through Asian nations, by contrast, has been a display of the authority of Trump – but also, at times, of that influence's constraints.

The president's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the duration of the first four days were an display in catering to a occasionally unpredictable US leader. It was an admission that Trump, with the flick of a pen, could enact duties and additional actions that have the potential to harm the economies of export-dependent nations.

His sit-down with China's president Xi Jinping on the final day, nevertheless, was something entirely different.

It was a meeting of counterparts on the global stage, where the stakes for each country – for their financial health, for their global standing, for the welfare of their populations – were immense.

With China, Trump may use his authority, but these moves entail ramifications. They come with a cost.

• The US president describes 'amazing' meeting with the Chinese leader but no pact finalized
• Xi and Trump establish temporary truce as Beijing adopts strategic patience

For the initial phase, Trump's recent venture into global diplomacy was smooth sailing.

Each stop was characterized by a blend of standard commercial discussions – arrangements made under the shadow of Trump's "mutual" taxes – and personal accommodations that at moments approached the obsequious.

In the Malaysian stop, Trump gained rights to essential resources and made advances toward concluding economic agreements with regional partners. He also oversaw a agreement that should alleviate border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace agreement" the president loves to tout.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's Marine One flew past a landmark tower illuminated American colors – with a top in Trumpian gold.

Recently chosen Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi described $half-trillion in Tokyo's funding in the US and offered the US leader a present of a quarter-thousand flowering trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf club and case that belonged to former Prime Minister Abe, the murdered former prime minister who developed ties with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the most recent international head to propose Trump for his long-sought international honor.

Not to be outdone, Korea welcomed the president with cannons performing a honor salute and a military band that performed the leader's song and the Village People song – the Village People tune that has turned into a presidential event theme.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for Trump during which he gave the US president his state's top honor and a model of an historical royal headpiece.

Lunch with Lee featured a "Conciliatory Treat" of gold-encrusted brownies. Subsequently, the Koreans provided Trump premium vintage at an intimate dinner in Trump's honor with six international heads present at the APEC meeting.

In the America, Trump may be the focus of "No Kings" rallies by US citizens who disapprove of his boundary-testing increases of presidential power, but during his Asian visit he was treated like royalty.

And like the kings of ancient times, the president came to the Korean nation requesting contribution – in the guise of $200 billion in cash payments, $twenty billion a per year, from South Korea to the America, to be allocated at the discretion of Trump's administration. Consent on the terms of those payments helped ensure that the tax percentage on host nation goods to the US would fall from 25% to 15%.

The primary focus of the president's Asia trip came in its concluding phase, nevertheless, as he met with Xi.

At that location, the power dynamic between leaders of the world's two largest economies was noticeably distinct than the interactions Trump had with his international peers in prior visits.

Absent were the usual pomp and the pageantry. Without any military bands, no protocol units, missing carefully crafted meal plans celebrating shared goodwill. Instead, the two leaders and their key staff sat across a long white negotiating table in a nondescript military building just off the runway of the southern port's global terminal.

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