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American leader visits overseas have typically been an occasion to demonstrate the influence of the US on the global scene. The president's five-day tour through East Asia, conversely, has been a demonstration of the power of Trump – but also, at moments, of that power's boundaries.

The president's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the span of the initial days were an demonstration in satisfying a sometimes unpredictable US leader. It was an admission that the president, with the stroke of a pen, could enact duties and other measures that have the capacity to damage the markets of export-dependent countries.

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

It was a meeting of counterparts on the world platform, where the stakes for both nations – for their economies, for their global standing, for the prosperity of their people – were enormous.

With the Chinese, Trump may flick his power, but those steps entail repercussions. They carry a toll.

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

For the first four days, the president's latest entry into international relations was uneventful.

Each destination was marked by a blend of conventional commercial discussions – agreements made under the pressure of Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs – and special treatment that at times approached the deferential.

In the Malaysian stop, the president gained rights to key materials and made headway toward concluding economic agreements with regional partners. He also presided over a agreement that should ease territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "truce" the US leader prefers to tout.

In Japan, Trump's helicopter soared near a Tokyo Tower displayed red, white and blue – with a peak in gilded.

Newly elected Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi described $550bn in Japan's financial commitments in the America and gave the president a gift of a quarter-thousand cherry trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a golf equipment and case that belonged to former Prime Minister Abe, the assassinated former prime minister who connected with the president in his initial presidency.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to nominate the president for his long-sought Nobel Peace Prize.

Not to be outdone, South Korea received the president with guns performing a 21-gun salute and a armed forces orchestra that rendered Hail to the Chief and the Village People song – the band tune that has evolved into a political gathering anthem.

Head Lee Jae Myung held an "honour ceremony" for Trump during which he gave the president his country's top honor and a replica of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Midday meal with Lee contained a "Conciliatory Treat" of gold-encrusted baked goods. Subsequently, the Koreans offered Trump premium vintage at an private meal in Trump's honor with six international heads participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference meeting.

In the United States, Trump may be the subject of "Anti-Authority" protests by the public who disapprove of his authority-expanding extensions of presidential power, but during his Asian tour he was handled as nobility.

And like the kings of old, Trump came to Korea demanding contribution – in the shape of $200bn in cash payments, $20 billion a annually, from Korea to the US, to be allocated at the guidance of the president's administration. Approval on the terms of those transfers assisted in that the duty level on Korean goods to the US would fall from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The main event of the president's Asia trip came in its last moments, nevertheless, as he encountered Xi.

At that location, the power dynamic between heads of the global top two markets was markedly divergent than the interactions Trump had with his overseas colleagues in previous days.

Absent were all the pomp and the spectacle. Without any military bands, without ceremonial troops, no carefully crafted dining selections celebrating bilateral friendship. Rather, the two leaders and their top aides sat across a large pale meeting furniture in a unremarkable military building just near the airstrip of the city of Busan's global terminal.

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