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Presidential journeys internationally have historically been an opportunity to display the power of the US on the world stage. The president's multi-day trip through eastern Asia, by contrast, has been a show of the authority of Trump – but also, at points, of that influence's constraints.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the initial days were an display in satisfying a occasionally volatile US leader. It was an admission that the leader, with the flick of a hand, could enact duties and additional actions that have the potential to harm the financial systems of export-dependent states.

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

It was a session of equals on the international scene, where the stakes for the two powers – for their economies, for their world reputation, for the well-being of their people – were significant.

With the Chinese, Trump may wave his power, but those steps entail repercussions. They carry a cost.

• Trump hails 'impressive' talks with the Chinese leader but no agreement finalized
• Xi and Trump find brief pause as Beijing pursues extended strategy

For the opening segment, the president's latest foray into international relations was uneventful.

Each destination was characterized by a combination of conventional economic talks – deals made under the shadow of the president's "mutual" taxes – and individual concessions that at times bordered on the obsequious.

In Malaysia, Trump obtained entry to essential resources and made headway toward completing trade arrangements with regional partners. He also led a treaty that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "truce" the American president enjoys to promote.

In Japan, Trump's Marine One passed by a landmark tower lit American colors – with a peak in golden.

Newly elected Leader Takaichi described $550 billion in Japanese investments in the United States and offered the American president a gift of two hundred fifty sakura trees for America's semiquincentennial, and a golf equipment and bag that came from former Prime Minister Abe, the assassinated former prime minister who connected with the president in his previous administration.

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

Keeping pace, South Korea greeted the president with cannons firing a traditional greeting and a military band that rendered the leader's song and the classic tune – the Village People tune that has turned into a political gathering anthem.

President Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for the US leader during which he gave the American leader his country's top honor and a copy of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Midday meal with the Korean leader included a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-covered chocolate squares. Subsequently, the Koreans offered the president vineyard wine at an exclusive gathering in Trump's honour with multiple world leaders present at the regional summit meeting.

In the United States, Trump may be the focus of "Anti-Monarchy" demonstrations by US citizens who disapprove of his authority-expanding expansions of leader's control, but during his regional visit he was handled as royalty.

And like the kings of history, Trump visited Korea seeking tribute – in the form of $two hundred billion in cash payments, $20 billion a annually, from Korea to the America, to be allocated at the direction of the president's government. Approval on the terms of those transfers assisted in that the duty level on host nation products to the US would fall from a quarter to 15%.

The central moment of the president's regional visit took place in its concluding phase, though, as he met with Xi.

There, the influence relationship between leaders of the world's two largest economies was markedly different than the meetings the president had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Not present were typical pomp and the display. Lacking military bands, without ceremonial troops, no carefully crafted menus honoring bilateral friendship. By contrast, the both heads and their top aides sat across a extended light-colored negotiating table in a unremarkable service structure just adjacent to the landing strip of Busan's international airport.

It was perhaps a demonstration of the high stakes that when the president made contact with Xi in Busan, he looked