President Donald Trump signed a pair of trade deals with southeast Asian countries and oversaw a peace deal ending a major border dispute in the region Sunday, building diplomatic momentum ahead of Trump’s anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump spent the first day of his three-country tour of Asia in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. There, he brokered trade deals with both Malaysia and Cambodia and helped secure the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords between Thailand and Cambodia. The reportedly bilateral peace discussions involved U.S. mediation to help settle disagreements between the two neighboring countries concerning their shared border.
Trump, set to remain in the continent for several more days, is scheduled to meet with Xi on Thursday in South Korea, with officials from both superpowers remaining optimistic a trade deal between the two nations is in the cards, The Associated Press reported.
“Through decisive U.S. diplomacy, Thailand and Cambodia reached a pivotal agreement to establish border observer teams, a critical step in solidifying long-term peace and fostering mutual trust between the two countries,” a Sunday White House fact sheet states.
“This has been an incredible successful day for Malaysia,” Trump said at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Malaysia after signing the peace agreement. “Today’s signing represents just one of eight conflicts that we ended in eight months of the Trump presidency. I’m very honored to have done it. We’ve saved millions of lives. That also includes the end of the war in Gaza.”
After landing in Kuala Lumpur, Trump disembarked Air Force One to be greeted by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim greeted him, flanked by a smiling cadre of dancers dressed in traditional Malaysian clothes. Trump then delighted the delegation with a few dance moves of his own.
TRUMP DANCE — MALAYSIA EDITION!
pic.twitter.com/HLyCVaCndh
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 26, 2025
“The entire world, they look up to you, and we’re on a mission of friendship and goodwill, and deepen our ties … and strengthen our commerce … really promote strongly stability, prosperity and peace for all of the countries in this room and long beyond this room,” the president added in his ASEAN remarks. “That’s why I’m delighted that, in addition to the agreement with Malaysia this week, I’m also signing or nearing completion on trade deals with many other Indo-Pacific partners.”
“The United States is having its golden age. Last year we were a country that was doing very poorly under a different semi-leadership, I don’t call it a ‘leadership,’” he continued, in an apparent dig at the preceding Biden administration. “But this year we’re doing numbers that nobody ever thought it was possible for any country to do.”
Trump secures peace & prosperity in Malaysia in ONE day!
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 26, 2025
️Brokered Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords
Secured trade deals with Malaysia & Cambodia
Joint trade with Thailand & Vietnam
Elevated U.S.-Malaysia relations bringing billions to the U.S.
Joined U.S.-ASEAN Summit The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) specified in a Sunday post to X the trade deal with Malaysia “expands market access for U.S. agricultural and industrial goods, ranging from passenger vehicles and machinery to dairy and poultry.” The Office added in a subsequent post that the U.S.-Malaysia deal “includes unprecedented terms to lower non-tariff barriers facing American exporters, from accepting vehicles built to U.S. standards to streamlining requirements for U.S. agricultural products.”
As for the deal with Cambodia, the Office of the USTR said in another X post Sunday the “landmark Agreement expands Americans’ market access with Cambodia eliminating tariffs on 100% of U.S. industrial and agricultural goods.”
“These deals reflect America’s enduring strength, competitiveness, and commitment to American producers and consumers,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote on X. “Together, we’re ushering in a New Golden Era for American Agriculture!”
Trump also announced trade deal frameworks with two additional nations in the region — Thailand and Vietnam — but they have not yet been finalized as had the deals with Malaysia and Cambodia, Politico reported.
The four agreements together account for just over two-thirds of nearly half-a-trillion dollars the U.S. trades with the 10 AESAN member nations. In addition to the financial potential, another benefit is geographic: the signatories combined occupy a critical region often in the middle of economic tensions between the U.S. and China, according to the outlet.
When reached for comment, the White House referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the president’s comments. The Office of the USTR did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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