Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul will travel to Malaysia to sign a ceasefire agreement with Cambodia, a ceremony to be witnessed by US President Donald Trump during his visit to Kuala Lumpur for the ASEAN Summit. Trump had initially pulled out of attending the summit due to the death of Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit on Saturday, but is now scheduled to arrive Sunday morning, coinciding with the ceasefire signing. The deal follows a deadly five-day border conflict in July, which killed dozens and displaced around 300,000 people.
Anutin stated that he requested the ceremony be held on Sunday morning and will return to Thailand immediately afterward, also missing the upcoming APEC Summit in South Korea. The Thai cabinet is expected to convene Saturday morning to discuss funeral arrangements for the Queen Mother.
ASEAN foreign ministers began meetings on Saturday to kick off a weekend of global diplomacy in Kuala Lumpur. Alongside regional talks, US and Chinese officials are holding trade negotiations, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer meeting a delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. The discussions aim to resolve tensions after Trump threatened new tariffs of up to 100 per cent on Chinese goods beginning November 1, in response to China’s expanded export controls on rare earth minerals.
The ASEAN Summit will also welcome East Timor as its 11th member, while pressing for trade multilateralism and deeper regional partnerships. World leaders attending include Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Trump is expected to meet Lula on the sidelines to discuss the 50 percent US tariffs on Brazilian goods, citing a USD 410 billion US trade surplus with Brazil over 15 years, though talks with Canada’s Carney are not planned.
Trump criticized a recent advertisement by Ontario’s provincial government featuring former President Ronald Reagan, which claimed tariffs cause trade wars and economic harm, labeling it “fraudulent.” The ASEAN Summit and accompanying meetings mark a critical moment for balancing regional peace, trade negotiations, and the fallout from US global tariff policies, with the US president playing a central diplomatic role.
