A triumphant Donald Trump on Sunday presided over a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia on the first trip to Southeast Asia of his second presidency, applauding his own peacemaking skills while warning that American trade was contingent on the durability of the truce between the two nations.
Dubbed the Kuala Lumpur Accords, the declaration calls for a demilitarisation of the tense shared Thai-Cambodia border and a loosely worded commitment towards reaching peace to end a border dispute, which erupted over five bloody days in late July, killing scores on both sides.
Trump’s intervention saw Thailand and Cambodia rewarded with reduced tariffs of 19 per cent each in exchange for a ceasefire, which has largely held until now.
In a signature podium performance, Trump praised Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, his Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet and host Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim before embarking on a lavish rundown of his own peacemaking achievements.
“These two countries were going at it, there was a lot of killing,” he said, explaining he gave up a round of golf to hold talks with the squabbling leaders.
“I asked them to choose the path of peace and prosperity over war. We got it stopped very quickly in this case.”
