Trump’s Cambodia-Thailand Deal: Ceasefire or Lasting Peace?

Trump’s Cambodia-Thailand Deal: Ceasefire or Lasting Peace?
  • calendar_today August 8, 2025
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President Donald Trump is once again highlighting his foreign policy record, this time saying that he has already ended six wars in his second term. Trump made the dramatic claim at the White House Monday while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders, also suggesting he is on the verge of solving the current war in Ukraine. “I’ve done six wars — I’ve ended six wars,” Trump said, gesturing to interventions in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. “Look, India-Pakistan, we’re talking about big places. You just take a look at some of these wars. You go to Africa and take a look at them.”

The White House recently released a statement calling Trump the “President of Peace,” listing deals or initiatives with Armenia and Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo. The statement also referred to the Abraham Accords from Trump’s first term, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states. Fragile ceasefires and overstated victories.

According to Trump, these are just some of the examples of the diplomatic successes he can bring to fruition, and which he may leverage when it comes to Ukraine. Analysts, however, say many of these are fragile ceasefires rather than permanent settlements. Israel and Iran signed a deal to return to “improved relations” as part of Trump’s initiative following a 12-day conflict last week, but the breakthrough does not address the question of Tehran’s nuclear program and decades of hostility remain.

Other of Trump’s interventions have faltered, like his failed efforts to end fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group in Gaza, and outreach to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un during Trump’s first term, which appears to have left the North with more nuclear weapons than before. One of Trump’s most recent achievements was the declaration signed last week by Armenia and Azerbaijan after a White House meeting on Aug. 24. In addition to both sides agreeing to recognize borders and renounce violence, the U.S. will control a transportation corridor running between them that it is dubbing the “Trump Route for Peace and Prosperity.”

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev called it “a miracle,” while experts have warned that constitutional and territorial disputes in both countries remain. Southeast Asia A similar case is seen in Southeast Asia, where Trump used the threat of a trade war to put a stop to a border clash between Cambodia and Thailand that had killed 38 people.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) played an important role in this process, but the Cambodian government has put Trump’s role front and center, with Prime Minister Hun Manet crediting the U.S. leader and nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

South Asia is more mixed. Trump claimed credit for defusing a border flare-up between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in May, but Islamabad was effusive in its praise of Washington, while New Delhi downplayed its involvement. The truce left open the disputed question of Kashmir, raising questions over the durability of the deal. Africa, Kosovo, and the future.

Trump has also sought to score points over his role in Africa, where he helped broker a deal between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo aimed at disarming militias and defusing border tensions. The M23 rebel group, central to much of the fighting, has rejected the agreement. Many observers also believe the U.S. to be motivated by a desire to outmaneuver China for control of African mineral resources.

Trump’s claims over Egypt and Ethiopia relate to their dispute over a Nile dam project, which the Trump administration has pushed both sides to compromise on. Although the U.S. is engaged, no formal agreement is on the table. He has also spotlighted earlier work between Serbia and Kosovo, which saw steps towards economic normalization, though they remain without full diplomatic ties and the EU has led most recent rounds of talks. Critics of Trump point to his dismantling of parts of the State Department and cuts to the U.S.

Agency for International Development during his tenure as undermining his efforts to convert temporary ceasefires into lasting peace. But some have also noted that his unconventional approach, including the use of crude threats and personal branding, has sometimes delivered results on the ground.

Celeste Wallander, former assistant secretary of defense now at the Center for a New American Security, said his quiet diplomacy between India and Pakistan was more impactful than his headline-grabbing announcements.

“The ones that were helpful … were conducted in a professional way, quietly, diplomatically … finding common ground between the parties,” she said. Trump, meanwhile, is forging ahead with what he says is a peace drive in Ukraine and what critics have described as a political weapon. Whether his approach can deliver enduring solutions or whether his record will be remembered for his bold claims rather than tangible results remains to be seen.