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US presidential trips overseas have traditionally been an occasion to showcase the influence of the American nation on the international platform. Donald Trump's five-day tour through Asian nations, on the other hand, has been a display of the clout of Trump – but also, at points, of that influence's limitations.

Trump's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the initial days were an demonstration in satisfying a occasionally volatile president. It was an acknowledgement that the leader, with the flick of a hand, could impose taxes and other measures that have the capacity to damage the markets of trade-reliant states.

His discussion with China's president Xi on the last day, nevertheless, was something entirely different.

It was a meeting of peers on the global stage, where the consequences for the two powers – for their markets, for their international prestige, for the welfare of their populations – were enormous.

With China, the president may wave his pen, but those steps involve ramifications. They come with a cost.

• The US president praises 'impressive' encounter with the Chinese leader but no agreement reached
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For the initial phase, Trump's most recent foray into world politics was smooth sailing.

Each destination was punctuated by a mix of standard commercial discussions – agreements made under the pressure of Trump's "equivalent" taxes – and individual concessions that at points verged on the obsequious.

In Malaysia, the president secured entry to key materials and made progress toward concluding economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also led a agreement that should reduce frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace agreement" the American president prefers to tout.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's Marine One flew past a Tokyo Tower displayed American colors – with a peak in golden.

Recently chosen Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi outlined $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the United States and presented the US leader a offering of 250 cherry trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf equipment and bag that belonged to the late leader, the killed ex-leader who connected with the president in his initial presidency.

She also became the most recent international head to nominate Trump for his much-desired peace award.

Keeping pace, South Korea greeted Trump with guns firing a traditional greeting and a service ensemble that rendered the leader's song and the classic tune – the Village People tune that has turned into a Trump rally theme.

Head the Korean president held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he gave the American leader his nation's premier award and a model of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Lunch with Lee included a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-encrusted brownies. Later that day, the Koreans offered the president fine beverage at an intimate dinner in the president's honour with half-dozen world leaders present at the APEC conference.

In the America, the president may be the subject of "Anti-Authority" rallies by Americans who oppose his authority-expanding expansions of executive authority, but during his Asian visit he was treated like nobility.

And like the kings of old, Trump visited the Korean nation requesting payment – in the form of $200 billion in monetary contributions, $20 billion a annually, from South Korea to the America, to be allocated at the discretion of Trump's leadership. Consent on the terms of those contributions helped ensure that the tariff rate on South Korean goods to the United States would decrease from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The main event of the president's Asia trip occurred in its concluding phase, though, as he met with the Chinese leader.

There, the authority balance between heads of the global top two markets was noticeably distinct than the interactions the president had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Not present were typical ceremony and the spectacle. No armed forces orchestras, no protocol units, missing meticulously designed meal plans honoring bilateral friendship. Instead, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors were seated across a long white discussion surface in a nondescript military building just near the airstrip of the southern port's international airport.

It was perhaps a indication of the major consequences that when Trump shook hands with the Chinese leader in Busan, he looked