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American leader visits overseas have typically been an occasion to display the influence of the US on the international platform. Trump's multi-day tour through Asian nations, by contrast, has been a display of the clout of Trump – but also, at points, of that influence's constraints.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the opening phase were an exercise in pleasing a sometimes unpredictable president. It was an admission that the president, with the stroke of a hand, could introduce duties and further steps that have the ability to damage the financial systems of export-oriented states.

His sit-down with Beijing's head Xi on Thursday, however, was a distinct situation.

It was a encounter of peers on the world platform, where the risks for both nations – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the welfare of their citizens – were immense.

With China, the US leader may use his pen, but such actions come with ramifications. They involve a cost.

• The US president describes 'amazing' talks with the Chinese leader but no agreement finalized
• Xi and the US leader find short-term ceasefire as Beijing pursues extended strategy

For the first four days, the president's latest foray into world politics was successful.

Each stop was marked by a blend of standard economic talks – deals made under the threat of Trump's "equivalent" tariffs – and personal accommodations that at moments approached the obsequious.

In the Malaysian stop, the president secured access to critical minerals and made headway toward concluding economic agreements with regional partners. He also oversaw a pact that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace deal" the US leader loves to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's Marine One soared near a famous structure displayed American colors – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Newly elected Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi detailed $550bn in Japanese investments in the US and offered the president a offering of 250 flowering trees for the United States' 250th anniversary, and a golf club and bag that belonged to Shinzo Abe, the killed ex-leader who bonded with Trump in his initial presidency.

She also became the newest foreign leader to nominate the president for his much-desired Nobel Peace Prize.

Matching the effort, South Korea greeted the president with cannons discharging a traditional greeting and a military band that performed Hail to the Chief and YMCA – the Village People song that has evolved into a presidential event standard.

Head the Korean president held an "award event" for the US leader during which he presented the American leader his nation's highest medal and a copy of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Noon repast with the Korean leader featured a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-covered baked goods. Afterward, the hosts served Trump vineyard wine at an private meal in Trump's honour with six international heads participating in the regional summit conference.

In the United States, Trump may be the target of "No Kings" rallies by US citizens who reject his authority-expanding extensions of executive authority, but during his regional tour he was treated like royalty.

And like the rulers of ancient times, Trump visited South Korea seeking contribution – in the guise of $200 billion in financial transfers, $twenty billion a annually, from Korea to the America, to be allocated at the direction of the president's administration. Approval on the conditions of those contributions helped ensure that the duty level on Korean products to the United States would fall from twenty-five percent to fifteen percent.

The central moment of the president's Asia trip came in its final hours, nevertheless, as he met with Xi.

In that setting, the authority balance between counterparts of the planet's biggest economic powers was noticeably different than the interactions Trump had with his international peers in earlier stops.

Not present were all the ceremony and the pageantry. No service ensembles, absent ceremonial troops, no meticulously designed dining selections honoring bilateral friendship. By contrast, the both heads and their key staff were seated across a extended light-colored negotiating table in a nondescript service structure just off the runway of the city of Busan's air transport hub.

It was possibly a demonstration of the significant risks that when the president made contact with the Chinese leader in the Korean city, he appeared