Trump attends ceremony as Thailand and Cambodia agree to expand ceasefire

Donald Trump shakes hands with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet, while Thail leader Anutin Charnvirakul watches on. Picture: Mohd Rasfan/pool/AP)

Thailand and Cambodia have signed an expanded ceasefire agreement during a ceremony attended by US President Donald Trump, whose threats of economic pressure prodded the two nations to halt skirmishes along their disputed border earlier this year.

Thailand will release Cambodian prisoners and Cambodia will begin withdrawing heavy artillery as part of the first phase of the deal. Regional observers will monitor the situation to ensure fighting does not restart.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet called it a “historic day”, while his Thai counterpart Anutin Charnvirakul said the agreement creates “the building blocks for a lasting peace”.

The ceremony was Mr Trump’s first event after arriving at the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, hosted in Kuala Lumpur.

Donald Trump applauded as the deal was signed (Mohd Rasfan/pool/AP)

The trip, which will continue with visits to Japan and South Korea and a potential meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, is an opportunity for Mr Trump to burnish his reputation as an international dealmaker at a time when his tariffs have scrambled the international economy and as he feuds with Democrats over a government shutdown back home.

Commenting on the ceasefire deal, he said: “We did something that a lot of people said couldn’t be done.”

Touching down in the Malaysian capital earlier, he performed his trademark campaign trail dance with local performers and waved an American flag in one hand and a Malaysian flag in the other.

The president signed economic agreements with Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, some of them aimed at increasing trade involving critical minerals. The US wants to rely less on China, which has limited exports of key components in technology manufacturing.

Mr Trump joined a ‘family photo’ with all leaders attending the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Mr Trump attended the summit only once during his first term, but this year’s event is a chance for him to re-engage with a collection of nations that has a combined 3.8 trillion US dollars economy and 680 million people.

“The United States is with you 100%, and we intend to be a strong partner and friend for many generations to come,” Mr Trump said.

He described his counterparts as “spectacular leaders” and said, “everything you touch turns to gold”.

The summit also allowed Mr Trump to play global peacemaker with Thailand and Cambodia, which have competing territorial claims that result in periodic violence along their border.

Some of the worst modern fighting between the two countries took place over five days in July, killing dozens and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

Mr Trump threatened at the time to withhold trade agreements unless the fighting stopped in a display of economic leverage credited with spurring negotiations. A shaky truce has persisted since then.