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Presidential journeys abroad have typically been an opportunity to display the power of the American nation on the international platform. The president's multi-day trip through East Asia, conversely, has been a display of the power of the leader – but also, at points, of that influence's constraints.

The president's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the initial days were an display in satisfying a sometimes volatile American president. It was an admission that the leader, with the stroke of a pen, could enact taxes and other measures that have the potential to harm the markets of export-oriented countries.

His meeting with Beijing's head Xi Jinping on Thursday, nevertheless, was a completely different scenario.

It was a encounter of counterparts on the international scene, where the risks for both nations – for their economies, for their world reputation, for the prosperity of their people – were enormous.

With China, the US leader may use his pen, but such actions entail ramifications. They involve a toll.

• Trump praises 'impressive' meeting with the Chinese leader but no agreement finalized
• Xi and the US leader reach temporary truce as Beijing adopts strategic patience

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

Each stop was marked by a blend of standard commercial discussions – agreements made under the threat of the president's "mutual" tariffs – and special treatment that at points approached the deferential.

In Malaysia, the president secured entry to key materials and made advances toward finalizing economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also oversaw a treaty that should alleviate border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace deal" the US leader enjoys to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, the president's official aircraft passed by a landmark tower lit red, white and blue – with a peak in gilded.

Freshly appointed Leader Sanai Takaichi described $half-trillion in Japan's financial commitments in the US and presented the US leader a present of two hundred fifty cherry trees for the United States' 250th birthday, and a golf club and case that belonged to Shinzo Abe, the killed past head who bonded with Trump in his first term.

She also became the newest overseas counterpart to propose Trump for his much-desired Nobel Peace Prize.

Matching the effort, the Korean government received Trump with guns discharging a 21-gun salute and a service ensemble that played Hail to the Chief and the Village People song – the Village People tune that has turned into a presidential event anthem.

President Lee held an "award event" for the US leader during which he awarded the president his state's premier award and a replica of an historical royal headpiece.

Midday meal with Lee featured a "Conciliatory Treat" of gold-covered baked goods. Subsequently, the hosts offered Trump vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's honour with half-dozen international heads present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference conference.

In the US, the president may be the target of "No Kings" protests by the public who oppose his limit-pushing expansions of presidential power, but during his Asian tour he was treated like royalty.

And like the rulers of history, Trump came to Korea seeking contribution – in the guise of $200bn in cash payments, $20bn a year, from the host nation to the United States, to be allocated at the discretion of the president's leadership. Agreement on the conditions of those payments helped ensure that the duty level on Korean exports to the America would drop from a quarter to under twenty percent.

The primary focus of Trump's Asia trip came in its last moments, though, as he encountered Xi.

At that location, the authority balance between heads of the planet's biggest economic powers was markedly divergent than the exchanges the president had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Absent were all the pageantry and the pageantry. No military bands, no protocol units, missing carefully crafted dining selections marking shared goodwill. Instead, the two leaders and their key staff positioned themselves 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 possibly a reflection of the significant risks that when the president shook hands with Xi in Busan, he seemed