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Presidential journeys abroad have typically been an occasion to display the power of the American nation on the international platform. Trump's multi-day tour through East Asia, by contrast, has been a show of the authority of Trump – but also, at points, of that authority's boundaries.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the first four days were an demonstration in catering to a at times volatile president. It was an admission that the president, with the stroke of a document, could impose duties and other measures that have the ability to harm the markets of export-dependent countries.

His meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, though, was something entirely different.

It was a encounter of peers on the global stage, where the stakes for the two powers – for their economies, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their populations – were enormous.

With Beijing, Trump may flick his pen, but these moves entail ramifications. They involve a price.

• Trump hails 'amazing' talks with the Chinese leader but no pact agreed
• The Chinese president and Trump find brief pause as Beijing pursues extended strategy

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

Each stop was characterized by a mix of conventional commercial discussions – arrangements made under the threat of Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs – and special treatment that at points approached the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, the president gained rights to key materials and made headway toward finalizing trade arrangements with ASEAN countries. He also presided over a pact that should reduce frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace deal" the American president loves to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's official aircraft passed by a famous structure displayed red, white and blue – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Freshly appointed Leader Takaichi detailed $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the United States and gave the American president a offering of a quarter-thousand cherry trees for America's 250th birthday, and a sports gear and carrier 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 foreign leader to suggest the president for his long-sought peace award.

Not to be outdone, Korea welcomed Trump with cannons firing a traditional greeting and a service ensemble that performed Hail to the Chief and YMCA – the musical group anthem that has become a political gathering standard.

Leader the Korean president held an "recognition ritual" for Trump during which he awarded the American leader his nation's premier award and a model of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Noon repast with the Korean leader featured a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gilded brownies. Later that day, the hosts provided the president premium vintage at an intimate dinner in Trump's recognition with half-dozen international heads attending the regional summit summit.

In the US, the president may be the target of "No Kings" demonstrations by US citizens who disapprove of his boundary-testing increases of presidential power, but during his regional swing he was handled as royalty.

And like the monarchs of history, Trump visited South Korea requesting tribute – in the form of $200bn in financial transfers, $twenty billion a year, from Korea to the America, to be allocated at the guidance of Trump's leadership. Consent on the details of those transfers helped ensure that the duty level on South Korean products to the US would drop from a quarter to 15%.

The central moment of Trump's Asian tour came in its final hours, however, as he met with Xi.

At that location, the influence relationship between heads of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly distinct than the exchanges Trump had with his foreign counterparts in previous days.

Missing were the usual ceremony and the spectacle. Without any service ensembles, without honour guards, missing meticulously designed meal plans celebrating bilateral friendship. Rather, the pair of counterparts and their top aides were seated across a long white discussion surface in a plain armed forces facility just near the airstrip of Busan's global terminal.

It was perhaps a demonstration of the major consequences that when the president made contact with Xi in the southern port, he appeared