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US presidential trips overseas have traditionally been an opportunity to demonstrate the power of the United States on the international platform. Donald Trump's week-long trip through eastern Asia, conversely, has been a display of the power of the president – but also, at moments, of that power's limitations.

The president's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the duration of the initial days were an display in catering to a occasionally mercurial president. It was an acknowledgement that Trump, with the flick of a document, could enact tariffs and further steps that have the ability to harm the economies of export-oriented states.

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

It was a meeting of equals on the international scene, where the stakes for each country – for their economies, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their citizens – were significant.

With China, the US leader may flick his power, but those steps come with repercussions. They involve a cost.

• The US president hails 'amazing' meeting with the Chinese leader but no agreement finalized
• The Chinese president and the US leader find brief pause as China plays longer game

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

Each stop was characterized by a blend of conventional commercial discussions – deals made under the threat of Trump's "mutual" tariffs – and individual concessions that at points bordered on the deferential.

In Malaysia, the president gained access to essential resources and made headway toward completing economic agreements with regional partners. He also oversaw a pact that should alleviate border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace agreement" the US leader prefers to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's Marine One flew past a Tokyo Tower lit American colors – with a top in gilded.

Freshly appointed Head the Japanese leader detailed $550bn in Japanese investments in the America and gave the US leader a gift of a quarter-thousand sakura trees for America's semiquincentennial, and a sports gear and carrier that belonged to former Prime Minister Abe, the murdered ex-leader who developed ties with Trump in his initial presidency.

She also became the most recent overseas counterpart to propose Trump for his long-sought Nobel Peace Prize.

Matching the effort, South Korea greeted Trump with artillery discharging a 21-gun salute and a service ensemble that rendered Hail to the Chief and the Village People song – the musical group song that has become a political gathering standard.

Leader the Korean president held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he presented the American leader his state's highest medal and a model of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Lunch with the Korean leader featured a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-encrusted chocolate squares. Afterward, the Koreans provided Trump premium vintage at an intimate dinner in the president's recognition with six global figures attending the regional summit meeting.

In the United States, Trump may be the subject of "No Kings" rallies by US citizens who oppose his boundary-testing expansions of executive authority, but during his Asian tour he was received as nobility.

And like the kings of history, the president arrived in Korea seeking contribution – in the shape of $200bn in financial transfers, $20 billion a annually, from South Korea to the United States, to be invested at the discretion of Trump's administration. Consent on the terms of those payments assisted in that the tax percentage on South Korean exports to the US would drop from twenty-five percent to under twenty percent.

The primary focus of the president's Asia trip came in its final hours, nevertheless, as he met with the Chinese leader.

At that location, the influence relationship between counterparts of the planet's biggest economic powers was noticeably distinct than the meetings Trump had with his international peers in prior visits.

Absent were all the pageantry and the spectacle. Lacking military bands, absent protocol units, missing carefully crafted dining selections celebrating shared goodwill. By contrast, the two leaders and their top aides sat across a large pale discussion surface in a nondescript armed forces facility just off the runway of the city of Busan's global terminal.

It was likely a indication of the major consequences that when the president made contact with the Chinese leader in Busan, he looked