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US presidential trips overseas have typically been an opportunity to display the influence of the American nation on the international platform. Trump's multi-day swing through East Asia, on the other hand, has been a show of the clout of the president – but also, at times, of that authority's boundaries.

Trump's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the first four days were an display in satisfying a at times unpredictable president. It was an recognition that Trump, with the flick of a pen, could enact taxes and other measures that have the potential to devastate the markets of trade-reliant countries.

His meeting with China's president Xi on Thursday, however, was a distinct situation.

It was a encounter of peers on the world platform, where the stakes for each country – for their financial health, for their global standing, for the prosperity of their citizens – were significant.

With Beijing, the president may use his pen, but such actions involve consequences. They come with a price.

• Trump describes 'remarkable' talks with the Chinese leader but no trade deal reached
• The Chinese president and the US leader reach temporary truce as Beijing adopts strategic patience

For the initial phase, the president's recent venture into international relations was successful.

Each destination was characterized by a blend of standard commercial discussions – arrangements made under the shadow of Trump's "mutual" duties – and individual concessions that at times verged on the deferential.

In the Malaysian stop, the president gained access to key materials and made advances toward completing trade arrangements with south-east Asian nations. He also presided over a treaty that should ease border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "truce" the American president prefers to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's Marine One passed by a Tokyo Tower displayed US flag colors – with a summit in golden.

Freshly appointed Prime Minister Takaichi outlined $550bn in Japanese investments in the America and gave the American president a present of 250 flowering trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a sports gear and bag that belonged to the late leader, the murdered ex-leader who bonded with the president in his first term.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to nominate Trump for his much-desired international honor.

Keeping pace, the Korean government received the president with cannons performing a honor salute and a service ensemble that rendered the leader's song and the classic tune – the musical group tune that has turned into a Trump rally standard.

President Lee held an "recognition ritual" for the US leader during which he gave the president his state's top honor and a model of an historical royal headpiece.

Lunch with Lee contained a "Conciliatory Treat" of gold-encrusted chocolate squares. Later that day, the Koreans served Trump vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's honor with half-dozen international heads present at the regional summit meeting.

In the United States, the president may be the focus of "Anti-Monarchy" protests by US citizens who oppose his boundary-testing extensions of executive authority, but during his Asian tour he was treated like monarchy.

And like the rulers of old, the president came to Korea demanding tribute – in the guise of $200bn in financial transfers, $20bn a annually, from the host nation to the United States, to be invested at the guidance of Trump's administration. Consent on the terms of those payments helped ensure that the duty level on South Korean products to the America would drop from a quarter to 15%.

The main event of Trump's Asian tour occurred in its last moments, though, as he met with the Chinese leader.

There, the power dynamic between counterparts of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly different than the exchanges Trump had with his foreign counterparts in previous days.

Absent were all the pomp and the display. No military bands, without ceremonial troops, without carefully crafted menus honoring mutual national affection. Instead, the two leaders and their key staff sat across a long white discussion surface in a unremarkable service structure just adjacent to the landing strip of Busan's air transport hub.

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