Cambodia will nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after he helped the country reach a ceasefire agreement to end its border conflict with Thailand.
Sun Chanthol, Cambodia’s deputy prime minister, thanked Trump for bringing peace to the region while speaking to reporters earlier Friday in the country’s capital of Phnom Penh.
Chanthol said the American president deserved to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the highest-profile international award given to a person or organization for doing the most to ‘advance fellowship between nations.’
‘We acknowledge his great efforts for peace,’ Chanthol said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and Pakistani officials said in June they would recommend him for the award for his role in helping to end its conflict with India.
Trump urged a ceasefire last week when he spoke to the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand and threatened that the U.S. would not get back to the ‘trading table’ with the Southeast Asian countries until the fighting stops.
A ceasefire was negotiated in Malaysia on Monday, ending the heaviest conflict between the two countries in over a decade.
‘Numerous people were killed and I was dealing with two countries that we get along with very well, very different countries from certain standpoints. They’ve been fighting for 500 years intermittently. And, we solved that war … we solved it through trade,’ Trump told reporters during his recent trip to Scotland.
Following news of the ceasefire, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X that Trump’s direct involvement led to the truce.
‘President Trump made this happen. Give him the Nobel Peace Prize!,’ she said.
The fighting began last week after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers. Each side blamed the other for starting the clashes, which lasted five days.
At least 43 people were killed and more than 300,000 people were displaced on both sides of the border.
‘I said, ‘I don’t want to trade with anybody that’s killing each other,” Trump continued while in Scotland. ‘So we just got that one solved. And I’m going to call the two prime ministers who I got along with very, very well and speak to them right after this meeting and congratulate them. But it was an honor to be involved in that. That was going to be a very nasty war. Those wars have been very, very nasty.’
Chanthol, who also serves as Cambodia’s top trade negotiator, said his country was also grateful to Trump for a reduced tariff rate of 19%.
The Trump administration had initially threatened a tariff of 49% before later reducing it to 36%, a level that would have decimated Cambodia’s vital garment and footwear sector, Chanthol told Reuters.
Reuters contributed to this report.