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American leader visits internationally have typically been an occasion to showcase the strength of the United States on the international platform. Donald Trump's multi-day tour through East Asia, on the other hand, has been a display of the clout of the president – but also, at moments, of that influence's limitations.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the duration of the opening phase were an demonstration in pleasing a at times mercurial US leader. It was an recognition that Trump, with the flick of a document, could impose duties and other measures that have the potential to damage the markets of export-oriented states.

His meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the last day, however, was a completely different scenario.

It was a session of peers on the international scene, where the stakes for both nations – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the prosperity of their populations – were immense.

With China, the president may wave his authority, but these moves come with consequences. They carry a price.

• The US president hails 'amazing' talks with Xi but no agreement finalized
• Xi and Trump reach temporary truce as China pursues extended strategy

For the opening segment, Trump's recent entry into global diplomacy was uneventful.

Each destination was characterized by a blend of conventional commercial discussions – agreements made under the pressure of Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs – and individual concessions that at moments verged on the deferential.

In Malaysia, the president secured rights to critical minerals and made headway toward finalizing economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also oversaw a agreement that should reduce territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace deal" the US leader enjoys to promote.

In Japan, the president's official aircraft soared near a Tokyo Tower illuminated red, white and blue – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Recently chosen Prime Minister the Japanese leader detailed $550 billion in Japan's financial commitments in the United States and gave the American president a gift of a quarter-thousand cherry trees for the United States' 250th anniversary, and a sports gear and bag that belonged to former Prime Minister Abe, the killed former prime minister who developed ties with the president in his initial presidency.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to suggest the president for his much-desired Nobel Peace Prize.

Matching the effort, the Korean government received Trump with artillery discharging a honor salute and a service ensemble that rendered the presidential anthem and the classic tune – the Village People tune that has evolved into a Trump rally standard.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for the US leader during which he gave the American leader his state's premier award and a replica of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Lunch with Lee contained a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gilded brownies. Later that day, the Koreans served Trump vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's honor with half-dozen global figures participating in the APEC meeting.

In the US, Trump may be the subject of "No Kings" rallies by Americans who reject his boundary-testing expansions of executive authority, but during his regional tour he was treated like royalty.

And like the rulers of ancient times, the president came to South Korea demanding payment – in the shape of $200bn in monetary contributions, $20 billion a per year, from the host nation to the United States, to be used at the direction of Trump's administration. Consent on the terms of those contributions assisted in that the tax percentage on host nation exports to the America would decrease from 25% to fifteen percent.

The main event of Trump's Asian tour came in its last moments, though, as he encountered Xi.

At that location, the influence relationship between leaders of the global top two markets was noticeably different than the exchanges the president had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Absent were all the pomp and the display. No service ensembles, no protocol units, no thoughtfully prepared dining selections celebrating shared goodwill. Rather, the pair of counterparts and their key staff positioned themselves across a long white discussion surface in a unremarkable service structure just adjacent to the landing strip of the city of Busan's air transport hub.

It was possibly a reflection of the major consequences that when the president shook hands with the Chinese leader in Busan, he seemed