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American leader visits abroad have typically been an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the US on the global scene. Donald Trump's multi-day tour through East Asia, on the other hand, has been a display of the clout of Trump – but also, at moments, of that power's constraints.

The president's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the first four days were an demonstration in catering to a sometimes volatile American president. It was an admission that the president, with the flick of a pen, could introduce duties and other measures that have the potential to harm the economies of trade-reliant countries.

His sit-down with Beijing's head Xi Jinping on the last day, nevertheless, was a completely different scenario.

It was a meeting of equals on the international scene, where the stakes for the two powers – for their economies, for their global standing, for the prosperity of their citizens – were immense.

With China, Trump may use his pen, but those steps entail ramifications. They involve a cost.

• Trump describes 'amazing' talks with Xi but no agreement finalized
• Xi and Trump establish temporary truce as Beijing pursues extended strategy

For the first four days, the president's latest foray into global diplomacy was successful.

Each visit was marked by a mix of standard economic talks – arrangements made under the shadow of Trump's "equivalent" duties – and personal accommodations that at times bordered on the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, Trump secured entry to critical minerals and made advances toward finalizing economic agreements with south-east Asian nations. He also led a pact that should reduce territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace deal" the US leader enjoys to promote.

In Japan, Trump's official aircraft passed by a Tokyo Tower illuminated US flag colors – with a top in gilded.

Newly elected Prime Minister Takaichi detailed $half-trillion in Japanese investments in the United States and presented the American president a gift of a quarter-thousand flowering trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a golf club and bag that was owned by Shinzo Abe, the murdered past head who connected with the president in his initial presidency.

She also became the newest foreign leader to propose the president for his highly-coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

Not to be outdone, South Korea received the president with artillery performing a honor salute and a armed forces orchestra that played the leader's song and YMCA – the band tune that has evolved into a political gathering anthem.

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

Midday meal with Lee contained a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-encrusted baked goods. Subsequently, the South Koreans offered the president premium vintage at an private meal in the president's honour with multiple international heads participating in the regional summit summit.

In the America, the president may be the subject of "No Kings" rallies by US citizens who oppose his boundary-testing expansions of leader's control, but during his Asian swing he was received as royalty.

And like the monarchs of old, Trump came to the Korean nation seeking contribution – in the guise of $200bn in financial transfers, $20 billion a year, from South Korea to the America, to be allocated at the guidance of Trump's government. Approval on the conditions of those payments helped ensure that the tax percentage on South Korean products to the US would drop from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The main event of the president's regional visit occurred in its concluding phase, though, as he sat down with the Chinese leader.

In that setting, the authority balance between counterparts of the world's two largest economies was noticeably divergent than the interactions Trump had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Missing were typical ceremony and the pageantry. Without any armed forces orchestras, without ceremonial troops, no meticulously designed dining selections marking bilateral friendship. Rather, the pair of counterparts and their key staff sat across a long white discussion surface in a nondescript armed forces facility just near the airstrip of the southern port's air transport hub.

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