Michael Gabriel Hernandez
15 November 2025•Update: 16 November 2025
WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump claimed credit Friday for preventing renewed conflict between Thailand and Cambodia that would have upended a fragile peace he helped broker.
"I stopped a war in Thailand, in Cambodia," Trump told reporters on Air Force One after initially declining to specify which conflict he was claiming credit for bringing to an end. "That war would have been very costly in terms of lives, but even costly in terms of us."
Trump said he threatened to impose tariffs on the Southeast Asian neighbors, reiterating his long-stated position that without the power to impose the import duties, "other countries would use tariffs on us, and we would have no fair means of fighting back."
The US president has sought to defend his right to impose tariffs globally as the Supreme Court considers a case challenging Trump's authority to impose them.
On Wednesday, one civilian was killed and three others were injured in a cross-border clash between Thailand and Cambodia, with both blaming each other, days after Thailand suspended a peace pact.
Cambodia evacuated hundreds of residents from the Prey Chan village after the incident, provincial spokesman Norng Vuthy told reporters Thursday, according to CamboJA News.
The Royal Thai Army denied that Thai troops had engaged in "unprovoked shooting" and said Cambodian soldiers "fired weapons into Thai territory."
Thai forces "took cover and returned fire toward the source using only necessary force in accordance with rules of engagement to suppress the incident, protect national sovereignty, and ensure personnel safety," the army said on the US social media platform Facebook.
