KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — President Trump blasted the United Nations for not being more involved in ending wars as he signed peace and trade deals Sunday with the leaders of Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia — with the three nations pledging to boost US economic ties in exchange for lower tariffs.
Trump, 79, said a peace accord formalizing the truce that he brokered in July may save “millions of lives” in the two Southeast Asian nations, which were represented by their prime ministers at the ceremony in the Malaysian capital.
“Millions of people are alive today because of this peace treaty,” Trump declared.
“The United Nations should be doing this, but they don’t do it. They don’t do it. They turned off my teleprompter. When I made a speech, I had to make a speech without a teleprompter. They’re good at that. The escalator wasn’t working too well. It came to a complete halt,” he added.
“But, I mean, the United Nations has such great potential. I wish they could do it. They didn’t get involved with us at all. We just did the deal and reported the deal, and everybody was sort of amazed that we got it done so quickly and so nicely.”
The peace deal, specifying a military pullback from a disputed border region and an exchange of prisoners of war, ended five days of fighting in July that claimed at least 66 lives.
“I shouldn’t say it’s a hobby, because it’s so much more serious than a hobby, but it’s something that I’m good at, and it’s something I love to do,” said Trump, who added that he’s now interested in resolving clashes between Pakistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
“I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started up. But I’ll get that solved very quickly,” he said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, previously jailed on what he says were politically motivated charges of corruption and sodomy, played host at the event and made a lighthearted reference to Trump facing four criminal cases before winning last year’s election.
“We share lots of things in common. I was in prison, but you almost got there,” Ibrahim joked to laughter.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, meanwhile, hailed Trump’s involvement with the peace deal and said, “reflecting the gratitude of the Cambodian people, I have nominated President Donald J. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. He saved lives.”
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul also offered his “sincere appreciation” to Trump.
Trump spoke in July with the leaders of both countries during the clashes and threatened higher US tariffs against both export-oriented nations if they couldn’t reach a cease-fire.
After fighting ended, Trump lowered his “reciprocal” tariffs for both Cambodia and Thailand to 19% — down from threatened rates of 49% and 36%, respectively.
The new trade deals with Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand further lower tariff rates.
The Cambodia trade deal, for example, reduces tariff rates on most clothing exports essential to the local economy, which will now have a tariff rate of between 7% and 15%, according to an extensive spreadsheet.
The White House did not immediately release documents specifying new rates for Thai and Malaysian goods, but statements on all three deals said the nations’ new “reciprocal” tariff rates could end up as low as “zero percent” for certain products.
Cambodia, in turn, committed to purchase 10 Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes for its national airline.
Thailand agreed to $2.6 billion in additional purchases of US agricultural products, including corn and soybeans, and to buy $5.4 billion in American energy, including liquified natural gas, plus purchase 80 US-made aircraft for $18.8 billion, according to a White House fact sheet.
Malaysia agreed to buy 30 planes and to spend $150 billion on US technology hardware, including semiconductors, in addition to buying $3.4 billion per year of liquified natural gas and $204 million in coal and telecom products and making $70 billion in investments in the US.
New critical minerals agreements with Thailand and Malaysia outline plans for future investments and a “pricing framework including price floors or similar measures” in response to Chinese export controls.
The minerals pact follows Trump’s signing of a landmark agreement with Australia last week to counter “non-market policies” from Beijing.
The peace and trade signings Sunday were top-billed events of Trump’s visit to Malaysia, which is hosting the ASEAN conference of Southeast Asian countries. The president unexpectedly danced with native performers on the tarmac as he emerged from his 23-hour flight from Washington.
Trump stopped en route in Qatar, where he hosted that country’s emir and prime minister on Air Force One for a discussion on progress in implementing his 20-point peace plan in Gaza, which on Oct. 10 ended two years of war.