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US presidential trips internationally have typically been an occasion to display the influence of the United States on the global scene. Trump's week-long swing through East Asia, by contrast, has been a display of the authority of Trump – but also, at points, of that power's constraints.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the first four days were an exercise in catering to a occasionally unpredictable US leader. It was an admission that the leader, with the stroke of a pen, could introduce tariffs and additional actions that have the potential to harm the markets of export-dependent nations.

His meeting with China's president Xi on Thursday, though, was something entirely different.

It was a meeting of equals on the world platform, where the stakes for the two powers – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their people – were immense.

With China, Trump may use his pen, but those steps entail repercussions. They involve a cost.

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• Xi and Trump reach brief pause as China adopts strategic patience

For the first four days, Trump's recent foray into international relations was smooth sailing.

Each stop was marked by a combination of standard economic talks – agreements made under the pressure of Trump's "reciprocal" duties – and individual concessions that at points verged on the subservient.

In Malaysia, Trump gained rights to critical minerals and made advances toward completing economic agreements with regional partners. He also oversaw a treaty that should ease frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace deal" the American president prefers to promote.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's official aircraft passed by a Tokyo Tower lit US flag colors – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Recently chosen Leader the Japanese leader outlined $half-trillion in Japan's financial commitments in the United States and gave the president a offering of two hundred fifty cherry trees for the United States' 250th birthday, and a sports gear and bag that was owned by Shinzo Abe, the killed past head who connected with Trump in his previous administration.

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

Not to be outdone, South Korea greeted the president with guns discharging a honor salute and a service ensemble that rendered Hail to the Chief and the Village People song – the band anthem that has turned into a Trump rally theme.

Head Lee Jae Myung held an "honour ceremony" for Trump during which he presented the president his country's top honor and a copy of an historical royal headpiece.

Midday meal with Lee contained a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gilded baked goods. Afterward, the South Koreans offered Trump vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's honour with multiple global figures present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference summit.

In the US, Trump may be the subject of "No Kings" demonstrations by Americans who oppose his authority-expanding expansions of presidential power, but during his Asian tour he was treated like monarchy.

And like the rulers of ancient times, Trump visited the Korean nation requesting tribute – in the guise of $200bn in monetary contributions, $20 billion a annually, from the host nation to the US, to be used at the guidance of the president's leadership. Agreement on the terms of those payments helped ensure that the tariff rate on host nation products to the US would decrease from twenty-five percent to fifteen percent.

The primary focus of Trump's Asian tour took place in its last moments, nevertheless, as he encountered Xi.

In that setting, the influence relationship between leaders of the world's two largest economies was markedly distinct than the exchanges Trump had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Absent were the usual pomp and the display. No service ensembles, no ceremonial troops, missing thoughtfully prepared dining selections marking bilateral friendship. By contrast, the both heads and their top aides sat across a extended light-colored discussion surface in a nondescript service structure just near the airstrip of the city of Busan's international airport.

It was perhaps a indication of the major consequences that when Trump made contact with the Chinese leader in Busan, he looked