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American leader visits abroad have typically been an opportunity to showcase the strength of the US on the global scene. Donald Trump's five-day trip through East Asia, by contrast, has been a show of the clout of the president – but also, at moments, of that authority's limitations.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the initial days were an demonstration in pleasing a at times unpredictable president. It was an recognition that the president, with the flick of a document, could enact taxes and further steps that have the capacity to devastate the markets of trade-reliant nations.

His sit-down with Chinese leader Xi on the final day, however, was a distinct situation.

It was a session of counterparts on the global stage, where the consequences for the two powers – for their economies, for their global standing, for the well-being of their populations – were immense.

With China, Trump may flick his pen, but those steps involve consequences. They come with a toll.

• Trump praises 'remarkable' meeting with Xi but no pact agreed
• The Chinese president and the US leader find temporary truce as Beijing pursues extended strategy

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

Each visit was characterized by a combination of standard trade negotiations – arrangements made under the pressure of Trump's "mutual" taxes – and personal accommodations that at points verged on the obsequious.

In the Malaysian stop, the president gained access to key materials and made advances toward concluding commercial deals with regional partners. He also led a pact that should alleviate territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace deal" the American president prefers to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's Marine One passed by a Tokyo Tower displayed red, white and blue – with a peak in golden.

Newly elected Prime Minister Takaichi described $half-trillion in Japanese investments in the US and offered the American president a offering of a quarter-thousand cherry trees for the United States' 250th birthday, and a golf club and carrier that came from Shinzo Abe, the assassinated ex-leader who bonded with the president in his first term.

She also became the most recent international head to suggest Trump for his long-sought peace award.

Keeping pace, the Korean government welcomed Trump with guns performing a honor salute and a service ensemble that performed Hail to the Chief and YMCA – the Village People song that has become a political gathering anthem.

Leader the Korean president held an "award event" for Trump during which he gave the American leader his nation's highest medal and a copy of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Midday meal with Lee contained a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gilded chocolate squares. Subsequently, the Koreans served Trump premium vintage at an exclusive gathering in the president's honour with six international heads participating in the APEC conference.

In the United States, the president may be the focus of "Anti-Authority" protests by Americans who reject his limit-pushing expansions of presidential power, but during his East Asia swing he was received as monarchy.

And like the kings of history, the president visited the Korean nation requesting tribute – in the form of $200bn in financial transfers, $twenty billion a per year, from South Korea to the America, to be allocated at the discretion of Trump's administration. Agreement on the terms of those transfers contributed to that the tariff rate on host nation products to the US would decrease from twenty-five percent to fifteen percent.

The primary focus of Trump's regional visit occurred in its final hours, nevertheless, as he encountered the Chinese leader.

In that setting, the authority balance between leaders of the global top two markets was markedly different than the interactions Trump had with his overseas colleagues in earlier stops.

Not present were typical pageantry and the spectacle. No service ensembles, no honour guards, missing meticulously designed meal plans celebrating mutual national affection. Instead, the pair of counterparts and their key staff positioned themselves across a long white negotiating table in a nondescript military building just near the airstrip of the city of Busan's global terminal.

It was likely a reflection of the major consequences that when the president exchanged greetings with the Chinese leader in the Korean city, he appeared