KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — President Donald Trump kicked off his trip to Asia on Sunday by presiding over the signing of an enhanced ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia that he helped mediate earlier this year.
The five-day border conflict between the two Southeast Asian neighbors in July killed dozens of people and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians in both countries.
The leaders of Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia were onstage with Trump for the signing of the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords, named after the Malaysian capital where negotiations took place in July.
Standing before a backdrop that read “Delivering Peace,” Trump said the Thailand-Cambodia conflict was one of eight wars his administration had brought to a close since he took office in January.
“On behalf of the United States, I’m proud to help settle this conflict and forge a future for the region,” Trump said.
Trump recalled taking phone calls from the Thai and Cambodian prime ministers during a visit to his Scottish golf course this summer.
“Turnberry is a great place, but I said this is much more important than playing a round of golf,” Trump said. “So we sat there all day long, making phone calls.”
Trump also took a moment to recognize the passing on Friday of Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit, 93, who he said embodied “dignity, kindness and grace.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Thailand will release 18 detained Cambodian soldiers, and observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be deployed.
Trump thanked Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the ASEAN chair, for facilitating the talks. Anwar in turn thanked Trump for his role in brokering the ceasefire.
“The world needs leaders who promote peace strongly, and to achieve that you have to break some rules, as you did today,” he said, referring to Trump’s invitation to ride with him from the airport to the ceremony at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center in violation of security protocols.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet also thanked Trump for his “tireless efforts” to make the peace deal a reality, repeating an earlier promise that Cambodia would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the agreement would “provide the building blocks for a lasting peace.”
After the peace deal was signed, Trump — who had threatened to levy harsh tariffs on both Thailand and Cambodia if the two countries did not come to an agreement — signed a reciprocal trade agreement with Cambodia and a framework for a reciprocal trade agreement with Thailand.
Thailand is eliminating tariff barriers on 99% of U.S. goods, while Cambodia is eliminating them on all U.S. goods. The U.S. will maintain a 19% tariff rate on imports from both countries.
Trump also signed a trade agreement with Malaysia, which U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said would be “modifying its tariffs and non-tariff barriers.” Malaysia is also subject to a 19% U.S. tariff rate.
In addition, Trump signed deals with Malaysia and Thailand on critical minerals, which are key components of electronic devices and defense technologies.
Finding alternative sources of critical minerals has become a matter of urgency for the U.S. after China, which has a near-monopoly on their production and processing, announced export controls as part of the ongoing U.S.-China trade war.
Speaking at the signing of the U.S.-Malaysia trade deal, Greer said it was important to secure supply chains for critical minerals “for our people and security of our economies.”
Malaysia is the first stop on Trump’s Asia trip, which will also take him to Japan and South Korea.
While in Malaysia, Trump is also attending the annual summit for ASEAN, a regional group with 11 members after East Timor was formally admitted on Sunday.
During his first term as president, Trump attended the ASEAN summit only once, raising questions about his administration’s commitment to a strategically important region being courted by both the U.S. and China.
Attending this year’s summit “sends the enduring message that the U.S. is back and is ready to provide strong countermeasures and deterrence against China in economic and security capacities,” said Collins Chong Yew Keat, a foreign affairs, security and strategy analyst at Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.
