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US presidential trips internationally have traditionally been an chance to showcase the strength of the United States on the world stage. The president's multi-day trip through East Asia, by contrast, has been a show of the power of Trump – but also, at points, of that power's limitations.

The president's visits in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the duration of the initial days were an display in pleasing a sometimes unpredictable US leader. It was an admission that the leader, with the stroke of a pen, could impose taxes and additional actions that have the ability to damage the financial systems of trade-reliant countries.

His sit-down with China's president Xi Jinping on Thursday, however, was something entirely different.

It was a meeting of counterparts on the international scene, where the risks for the two powers – for their financial health, for their global standing, for the prosperity of their citizens – were immense.

With the Chinese, the US leader may use his authority, but those steps entail repercussions. They carry a toll.

• The US president hails 'remarkable' encounter with Xi but no pact agreed
• The Chinese president and the US leader establish temporary truce as Beijing plays longer game

For the first four days, the president's latest foray into international relations was successful.

Each destination was characterized by a blend of conventional economic talks – agreements made under the pressure of the president's "equivalent" duties – and personal accommodations that at moments approached the subservient.

In Malaysia, Trump obtained entry to essential resources and made headway toward completing economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also oversaw a treaty that should alleviate territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "truce" the US leader loves to promote.

In the Japanese leg, the president's helicopter soared near a Tokyo Tower displayed American colors – with a top in Trumpian gold.

Recently chosen Head Takaichi outlined $half-trillion in Japanese investments in the United States and gave the US leader a present of a quarter-thousand flowering trees for the United States' 250th birthday, and a sports gear and bag that was owned by Shinzo Abe, the murdered ex-leader who developed ties with the president in his first term.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to propose Trump for his highly-coveted international honor.

Keeping pace, South Korea welcomed Trump with artillery performing a traditional greeting and a military band that rendered the leader's song and the classic tune – the band song that has evolved into a presidential event anthem.

Head the Korean president held an "honour ceremony" for Trump during which he gave the US president his country's premier award and a replica of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Midday meal with Lee included a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gilded brownies. Subsequently, the Koreans served the president vineyard wine at an exclusive gathering in Trump's honour with half-dozen international heads participating in the APEC summit.

In the America, the president may be the subject of "Anti-Monarchy" rallies by US citizens who oppose his authority-expanding increases of leader's control, but during his East Asia visit he was handled as nobility.

And like the kings of history, the president visited South Korea demanding tribute – in the guise of $two hundred billion in financial transfers, $20bn a annually, from Korea to the US, to be invested at the discretion of the president's government. Agreement on the conditions of those contributions helped ensure that the duty level on host nation goods to the US would drop from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The central moment of the president's regional visit took place in its final hours, though, as he encountered the Chinese leader.

In that setting, the influence relationship between leaders of the planet's biggest economic powers was noticeably different than the interactions the president had with his foreign counterparts in prior visits.

Absent were the usual ceremony and the pageantry. Lacking service ensembles, no ceremonial troops, missing carefully crafted dining selections marking bilateral friendship. Instead, the pair of counterparts and their key staff were seated across a large pale discussion surface in a nondescript service structure just near the airstrip of the southern port's international airport.

It was perhaps a demonstration of the major consequences that when the president exchanged greetings with the Chinese leader in the Korean city, he appeared