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US presidential trips abroad have traditionally been an opportunity to demonstrate the power of the US on the global scene. Donald Trump's five-day swing through eastern Asia, by contrast, has been a display of the clout of the leader – but also, at moments, of that influence's limitations.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the first four days were an display in catering to a sometimes mercurial US leader. It was an acknowledgement that the leader, with the flick of a pen, could impose duties and further steps that have the ability to damage the financial systems of export-oriented states.

His discussion with China's president Xi Jinping on the last day, nevertheless, was a distinct situation.

It was a meeting of counterparts on the world platform, where the stakes for both nations – for their financial health, for their world reputation, for the prosperity of their citizens – were immense.

With the Chinese, the president may use his authority, but such actions come with repercussions. They carry a cost.

• The US president praises 'remarkable' talks with the Chinese leader but no pact agreed
• The Chinese president and the US leader find brief pause as China pursues extended strategy

For the initial phase, Trump's latest entry into global diplomacy was uneventful.

Each stop was punctuated by a combination of traditional commercial discussions – deals made under the threat of Trump's "equivalent" taxes – and personal accommodations that at moments approached the deferential.

In Malaysia, the president obtained entry to critical minerals and made progress toward concluding commercial deals with south-east Asian nations. He also presided over a agreement that should reduce frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace deal" the president enjoys to promote.

In Japan, the president's official aircraft flew past a Tokyo Tower illuminated American colors – with a top in Trumpian gold.

Newly elected Head Sanai Takaichi detailed $half-trillion in Japanese investments in the America and offered the US leader a offering of a quarter-thousand cherry trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf club and bag that came from Shinzo Abe, the killed ex-leader who bonded with Trump in his first term.

She also became the newest foreign leader to nominate Trump for his much-desired international honor.

Keeping pace, South Korea greeted Trump with cannons discharging a traditional greeting and a service ensemble that performed Hail to the Chief and the classic tune – the Village People tune that has become a political gathering anthem.

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

Midday meal with Lee included a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-covered chocolate squares. Subsequently, the hosts offered the president fine beverage at an exclusive gathering in Trump's honor with multiple world leaders present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference conference.

In the America, the president may be the focus of "Anti-Monarchy" demonstrations by Americans who oppose his limit-pushing increases of executive authority, but during his Asian tour he was received as monarchy.

And like the kings of old, the president arrived in Korea requesting tribute – in the shape of $200 billion in cash payments, $20 billion a per year, from South Korea to the US, to be invested at the guidance of Trump's government. Consent on the conditions of those payments helped ensure that the tax percentage on South Korean goods to the America would drop from a quarter to 15%.

The main event of Trump's regional visit took place in its concluding phase, however, as he encountered Xi.

There, the power dynamic between leaders of the world's two largest economies was markedly different than the meetings the president had with his overseas colleagues in earlier stops.

Missing were all the pageantry and the pageantry. Without any service ensembles, absent honour guards, missing meticulously designed menus celebrating bilateral friendship. Instead, the pair of counterparts and their top aides sat across a extended light-colored discussion surface in a nondescript armed forces facility just near the airstrip of Busan's air transport hub.

It was likely a indication of the significant risks that when the president shook hands with the Chinese leader in the southern port, he looked