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US presidential trips overseas have traditionally been an occasion to demonstrate the influence of the US on the global scene. Trump's five-day tour through Asian nations, by contrast, has been a show of the power of the president – but also, at moments, of that power's boundaries.

The president's stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the duration of the opening phase were an demonstration in pleasing a at times volatile US leader. It was an admission that the president, with the signature of a pen, could introduce taxes and other measures that have the potential to damage the financial systems of trade-reliant countries.

His meeting with Beijing's head Xi on Thursday, though, was a distinct situation.

It was a session of equals on the global stage, where the stakes for both nations – for their economies, for their international prestige, for the prosperity of their people – were immense.

With the Chinese, the US leader may wave his power, but those steps come with repercussions. They involve a cost.

• Trump praises 'amazing' talks with the Chinese leader but no agreement reached
• Xi and the US leader find short-term ceasefire as China pursues extended strategy

For the initial phase, Trump's most recent entry into global diplomacy was successful.

Each destination was punctuated by a mix of traditional commercial discussions – deals made under the pressure of the president's "reciprocal" duties – and special treatment that at points verged on the deferential.

In the Malaysian stop, the president secured entry to critical minerals and made headway toward completing economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also presided over a pact that should alleviate territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "truce" the American president prefers to highlight.

In Japan, the president's Marine One passed by a Tokyo Tower lit red, white and blue – with a summit in gilded.

Freshly appointed Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi described $550 billion in Japan's financial commitments in the US and presented the US leader a offering of a quarter-thousand flowering trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf equipment and carrier that belonged to former Prime Minister Abe, the killed former prime minister who bonded with Trump in his first term.

She also became the latest foreign leader to suggest Trump for his highly-coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

Matching the effort, Korea greeted the president with guns performing a honor salute and a service ensemble that rendered the leader's song and the classic tune – the musical group song that has turned into a Trump rally theme.

President Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for Trump during which he gave the American leader his country's highest medal and a replica of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Noon repast with Lee included a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-encrusted baked goods. Subsequently, the South Koreans provided Trump fine beverage at an intimate dinner in the president's honor with multiple international heads participating in the regional summit conference.

In the United States, Trump may be the target of "Anti-Monarchy" protests by Americans who disapprove of his limit-pushing extensions of presidential power, but during his East Asia tour he was received as nobility.

And like the monarchs of ancient times, Trump arrived in South Korea demanding contribution – in the guise of $two hundred billion in cash payments, $20bn a year, from South Korea to the United States, to be allocated at the discretion of Trump's leadership. Approval on the conditions of those contributions assisted in that the tariff rate on Korean exports to the United States would decrease from 25% to 15%.

The main event of the president's Asian tour came in its last moments, however, as he encountered Xi.

There, the authority balance between counterparts of the global top two markets was markedly divergent than the meetings Trump had with his overseas colleagues in prior visits.

Absent were typical pomp and the pageantry. Without any service ensembles, absent protocol units, without meticulously designed menus celebrating shared goodwill. Rather, the pair of counterparts and their top aides sat across a extended light-colored discussion surface in a plain military building just adjacent to the landing strip of Busan's global terminal.

It was likely a reflection of the high stakes that when Trump shook hands with the Chinese leader in Busan, he seemed