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US presidential trips overseas have typically been an opportunity to showcase the power of the US on the world stage. Donald Trump's week-long tour through Asian nations, on the other hand, has been a display of the authority of the president – but also, at points, of that authority's boundaries.

The president's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the initial days were an demonstration in satisfying a occasionally unpredictable American president. It was an recognition that Trump, with the flick of a document, could introduce taxes and further steps that have the potential to damage the financial systems of trade-reliant nations.

His sit-down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the last day, though, was a completely different scenario.

It was a meeting of equals on the international scene, where the stakes for both nations – for their economies, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their people – were immense.

With Beijing, the US leader may use his pen, but those steps come with repercussions. They carry a price.

• The US president hails 'remarkable' meeting with Xi but no agreement finalized
• The Chinese president and the US leader find temporary truce as Beijing pursues extended strategy

For the first four days, Trump's recent venture into world politics was smooth sailing.

Each visit was characterized by a mix of standard trade negotiations – deals made under the threat of the president's "reciprocal" duties – and individual concessions that at points verged on the subservient.

In Malaysia, the president obtained access to critical minerals and made progress toward finalizing trade arrangements with ASEAN countries. He also presided over a pact that should ease border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace agreement" the president loves to tout.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's Marine One flew past a landmark tower displayed US flag colors – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Newly elected Leader Takaichi detailed $half-trillion in Tokyo's funding in the America and offered the American president a gift of a quarter-thousand flowering trees for the United States' 250th birthday, and a golf equipment and bag that came from Shinzo Abe, the murdered former prime minister who bonded with the president in his initial presidency.

She also became the most recent overseas counterpart to propose the president for his long-sought peace award.

Keeping pace, the Korean government greeted Trump with cannons discharging a honor salute and a military band that rendered the presidential anthem and the Village People song – the band tune that has evolved into a Trump rally theme.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "honour ceremony" for Trump during which he gave the American leader his state's highest medal and a model of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Midday meal with Lee contained a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-encrusted brownies. Afterward, the Koreans provided the president premium vintage at an intimate dinner in the president's honour with multiple global figures participating in the APEC summit.

In the US, Trump may be the focus of "Anti-Authority" protests by Americans who reject his limit-pushing expansions of leader's control, but during his East Asia tour he was handled as royalty.

And like the kings of ancient times, Trump visited the Korean nation seeking tribute – in the form of $200bn in cash payments, $20bn a year, from the host nation to the US, to be allocated at the guidance of Trump's government. Approval on the conditions of those contributions assisted in that the tariff rate on host nation products to the US would fall from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The main event of Trump's Asia trip took place in its final hours, however, as he encountered the Chinese leader.

There, the authority balance between leaders of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly different than the interactions Trump had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Absent were the usual ceremony and the spectacle. Without any armed forces orchestras, no ceremonial troops, missing meticulously designed menus honoring bilateral friendship. Rather, the two leaders and their senior advisors positioned themselves across a large pale meeting furniture in a nondescript service structure just adjacent to the landing strip of the southern port's air transport hub.

It was perhaps a reflection of the significant risks that when Trump shook hands with the Chinese leader in the Korean city, he appeared