President Donald Trump kicked off a sweeping Asia tour this week with a flurry of trade agreements in southeast Asia, bolstering America’s standing in the region before the trip’s title event: a Thursday meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea. Agreements with Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam affirm and elucidate Trump’s other diplomatic activities, but the greatest test is still to come.

Trump’s latest rash of dealmaking came as the president attended a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday. The agreements largely affirmed the 19-20% tariff rates the Trump administration has already negotiated, while securing pledges for preferential market access for American companies and access to rare earth minerals.

The White House published both a memorandum of understanding and a preliminary trade agreement signed by President Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. will maintain 19% tariffs on Malaysian goods, with some exemptions. Among other commitments, Malaysia will give preferential market access to certain U.S. goods; streamline “halal” requirements (Malaysia is a global leader in halal certification, which is like “kosher,” but for Islam) on foods, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics; import American-made cars; invest $70 billion in the U.S. economy; and “refrain from banning, or imposing quotas on, exports to the United States of critical minerals or rare earth elements.”

This last provision constitutes a strategic shift to circumvent Chinese restrictions on the global supply of rare earth metals, which are essential components in EV batteries, smartphones, and military equipment. Malaysia has an estimated 16.1 million tonnes (35 billion pounds) of rare earth deposits, but it has banned the exportation of raw rare earth elements.

The White House also published the terms of an agreement with Cambodia, under which Cambodia will eliminate all tariffs on American goods; the U.S. will maintain 19% tariffs on Cambodian goods, with exemptions; and Cambodia will lower other barriers to American entry into their markets, including striking a deal with Boeing.

President Trump also signed a memorandum of understanding with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul “concerning cooperation to diversify global critical minerals supply chains and promote investments.” The two parties agreed to a “framework” for an agreement, which would involve Thailand eliminating tariffs on “99% of goods” from the U.S., the U.S. maintaining its 19% tariff rate, with exemptions, and Thailand eliminating other economic barriers.

At the White House’s behest, Cambodia and Thailand also issued a “joint declaration” that reaffirmed the ceasefire Trump brokered between them in July. The two sides agreed to remove mines and heavy weaponry from their long, disputed border, and Thailand agreed to promptly release Cambodian prisoners of war. Charnvirakul cautioned that, while the declaration was a “concrete step towards peace,” peace itself would have to wait until “full implementation of the deal.” In other words, the two sides still don’t trust one another, but Trump’s watchful eye is forcing them to play nice.

Lastly, the White House published a framework for a trade agreement with Vietnam, which largely tracks with the trade deal the country struck with the Trump administration this summer. Under the deal, Vietnam eliminates tariffs on American goods, while the U.S. maintains 20% tariffs on Vietnamese goods.

Coming at the beginning of Trump’s Asia tour, the avalanche of signed documents sets the tone for the meetings that will follow. President Trump is expected in Japan on Tuesday to meet newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who hopes to improve the nation’s relations with America. Trump will then travel to South Korea, where he is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi on Thursday.

The trade agreements with ASEAN members provide important background for this meeting. Although the documents do not mention China, they do expand American access to rare earth minerals and bolster America’s ability to restrict Chinese attempts to evade tariffs and sanctions, thus putting Trump “in a better negotiating position,” suggested Asia Group partner Alexander Feldman.

Ahead of the anticipated meeting, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that American and Chinese negotiators have reached “a very successful framework for the leaders to discuss.” The two nations have engaged in vociferous trade negotiations, as well as a potential deal to sell TikTok. Last year, the U.S. Congress enacted a law that required TikTok to stop operating in the U.S. unless China relinquished control of the app, but that deadline has been extended repeatedly. In a Sunday interview on CBS News, Bessent said that 100% tariffs on Chinese goods are now “effectively off the table.”

Trump also expressed optimism about the Thursday meeting. “I have a lot of respect for President Xi, and we are going to come away with the deal,” he said.

What such a deal would look like is anyone’s guess. While Trump has effectively leveraged America’s economic power to extract favorable terms in his negotiations with southeast Asian nations, China is much larger. Thus far, trade negotiations with China seem to have proceeded on roughly equal terms — including the current trade truce, of sorts. Thus, while Trump’s southeast Asian romp improves his position with regard to China, it does not guarantee a similar outcome.

Nor is it possible to predict all the topics Trump and Xi will discuss on Thursday. Will the U.S. president confine himself only to the economics of trade, or will he also use China’s moral failures as leverage against them? The recent agreements with southeast Asian nations required America’s trading partners to ensure fair labor practices — which means putting an end to modern-day slavery. Will Trump demand the same of China, which the U.S. State Department ranks as one of the world’s worst offenders? Will he demand that China fulfill its claim to respect religious freedom by freeing the pastors it recently arrested?

President Trump’s Asia tour has begun well. However, it will be remembered not by how it began, but by how it ended. As every meeting ramps up to Thursday’s Trump-Xi summit, two questions merit careful reflection: what will the outcome be? And, more importantly, what does success look like?