U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats led Thailand and Cambodia to agree to a ceasefire which ended five days of fighting along their disputed border.
Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet reached the agreement during talks in Malaysia. Envoys from Washington and Beijing were also at the talks, but their roles weren’t immediately clear.
Trump had said before the discussions that the Thai and Cambodian leaders had agreed to “quickly work out a ceasefire.”
After separate calls with Phumtham and Hun Manet on Saturday, Trump had threatened that Washington would not reach trade deals with either as long as the fighting continued.
In their remarks after the meeting, both Phumtham and Hun Manet thanked Trump.
"With Trump’s Aug. 1 tariff deadline looming, trade-reliant Thailand wants to avoid antagonizing the U.S. president, especially as its officials have been holding talks to lower the steep 36% planned levy on its exports," Bloomberg reported.
At least 36 people were killed in the fighting between Thailand and Cambodia which erupted amid disagreements over colonial-era maps and treaties that defined the two countries’ boundaries. Relations had remained relatively stable since a 2011 clash that left dozens dead, but renewed tensions have triggered fears of escalated fighting.
Trump helped halt border clashes earlier this year between India and Pakistan by leveraging trade measures. Such have had little bearing on the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Trump on Monday shortened the deadline for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end Moscow's war with Ukraine or face U.S. sanctions.
🚨 JUST IN: President Trump is DONE with Putin. He just said he's lowering the initial 50 day deadline for sanctions on them to 10 days...
"I'm gonna make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days, from TODAY. There's NO reason in waiting. No reason in waiting. I wanna be generous,… pic.twitter.com/rNkVyTzNzv — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 28, 2025
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