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US presidential trips internationally have traditionally been an opportunity to display the influence of the American nation on the global scene. Trump's week-long trip through East Asia, on the other hand, has been a demonstration of the clout of Trump – but also, at moments, of that power's limitations.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the span of the first four days were an display in catering to a sometimes volatile US leader. It was an acknowledgement that the leader, with the signature of a hand, could introduce duties and further steps that have the capacity to harm the markets of trade-reliant countries.

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

It was a encounter of peers on the global stage, where the stakes for both nations – for their economies, for their international prestige, for the welfare of their populations – were enormous.

With Beijing, Trump may use his pen, but those steps involve consequences. They involve a cost.

• Trump praises 'impressive' encounter with Xi but no agreement finalized
• The Chinese president and Trump reach brief pause as Beijing plays longer game

For the first four days, the president's most recent venture into world politics was successful.

Each stop was marked by a combination of standard trade negotiations – deals made under the pressure of Trump's "equivalent" tariffs – and individual concessions that at points verged on the subservient.

In Malaysia, the president secured rights to essential resources and made progress toward completing trade arrangements with ASEAN countries. He also presided over a treaty that should alleviate territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace deal" the president loves to promote.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's Marine One soared near a landmark tower displayed US flag colors – with a summit in gilded.

Newly elected Head the Japanese leader detailed $550 billion in Tokyo's funding in the United States and presented the US leader a offering of 250 flowering trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf equipment and carrier that was owned by Shinzo Abe, the killed past head who connected with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the latest foreign leader to nominate Trump for his much-desired peace award.

Keeping pace, South Korea welcomed the president with artillery performing a honor salute and a armed forces orchestra that played Hail to the Chief and the Village People song – the Village People tune that has turned into a political gathering theme.

Head Lee held an "honour ceremony" for Trump during which he awarded the US president his country's top honor and a replica of an historical royal headpiece.

Lunch with Lee featured a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-covered brownies. Later that day, the Koreans provided the president premium vintage at an private meal in the president's honour with half-dozen world leaders participating in the regional summit summit.

In the America, Trump may be the target of "No Kings" rallies by Americans who disapprove of his limit-pushing increases of executive authority, but during his East Asia swing he was treated like nobility.

And like the kings of history, the president arrived in South Korea seeking contribution – in the form of $200 billion in financial transfers, $20bn a per year, from South Korea to the US, to be used at the guidance of the president's government. Consent on the conditions of those payments helped ensure that the tariff rate on host nation goods to the America would drop from 25% to 15%.

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

There, the authority balance between counterparts of the world's two largest economies was noticeably divergent than the interactions the president had with his overseas colleagues in previous days.

Not present were all the pageantry and the spectacle. Without any armed forces orchestras, without protocol units, no meticulously designed meal plans honoring mutual national affection. Rather, the pair of counterparts and their top aides sat across a large pale discussion surface in a plain service structure just adjacent to the landing strip of the city of Busan's air transport hub.

It was likely a demonstration of the high stakes that when Trump shook hands with the Chinese leader in the southern port, he appeared