Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul will travel to Malaysia on Saturday to finalize a ceasefire agreement with Cambodia and meet with United States President Donald Trump.
Anutin’s visit shows Washington’s effort to support regional calm after a deadly border clash earlier this year, while also keeping trade and security talks alive during a busy weekend of diplomacy in Kuala Lumpur.
Thailand and Cambodia are expected to sign a broader ceasefire on Sunday. It follows a brief but intense border conflict in July that killed dozens and displaced roughly 300,000 people, according to officials in both countries.
The Thai government said Anutin will attend Sunday’s ASEAN opening ceremony and then meet President Trump to discuss economic cooperation, regional security and development before returning to Bangkok later that day.
“Thailand has recently received several requests for bilateral meetings at the leadership level, which will lead to the development of cooperation in various areas including the economy, security and trade,” Anutin said in a statement.
Foreign ministers opened ASEAN talks on Saturday, as United States and Chinese teams hold separate trade discussions in Kuala Lumpur. The meetings come after Washington threatened a one hundred percent tariff on Chinese goods in response to China’s expanded export controls on rare earth minerals.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are leading the American delegation. China has sent Vice Premier He Lifeng.
President Trump is scheduled to arrive on Sunday, the first stop of his Asia trip, and will join fellow leaders including Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Lula has said he wants to press Trump to end a fifty percent tariff on Brazilian imports. He argued it was a “mistake” given the fifteen year United States trade surplus with Brazil. Trump told reporters while flying to Asia that he would look at lowering tariffs on Brazil if conditions are right.
However, the US president ruled out a similar conversation with Canada. He said he was “satisfied with the deal we have” after talks were cut off over a Canadian advertisement quoting former President Ronald Reagan saying tariffs hurt the economy. Trump called the video fraudulent.
This year’s ASEAN agenda includes support for multilateral trade cooperation and the formal welcome of East Timor as the group’s eleventh member. Leaders at the summit are expected to highlight new regional partnerships while also managing the fallout from ongoing tariff disputes.