US made trade deals with Thailand and Cambodia, Lutnick says

WASHINGTON - The US has reached trade agreements with Cambodia and Thailand, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, days after the South-east Asian neighbours had agreed to a ceasefire at US President Donald Trump’s urging following deadly clashes along their disputed border.

“And you know what we did today? We made trade deals with Cambodia and Thailand,” Mr Lutnick said on the night of July 30 in an interview with Mr Sean Hannity on Fox News. He did not elaborate before the interview ended.

Thailand and Cambodia both face a tariff rate of 36 per cent from Aug 1 on their goods to the US, their largest export market.

The trade-reliant economies were under pressure to avert the steep levy, especially after neighbouring Indonesia and the Philippines secured rates of 19 per cent and Vietnam, 20 per cent. 

The White House and Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for further details.

Thailand hopes the final levy to be around 18-20 per cent, in line with regional neighbours’, said Mr Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, a Commerce Ministry spokesman.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, who is leading trade negotiations, said he was unaware of any new agreement.

Mr Trump had used trade talks as a cudgel to bring both nations to the negotiating table, threatening that Washington would not reach trade deals with either as long as the fighting continued.

After the

peace deal was inked

, Mr Trump called leaders of both countries and told his trade team to restart talks with both nations.

Following the truce, Thailand’s acting leader, Mr Phumtham Wechayachai, said he expected a “very good” trade deal with the US.  

Mr Lutnick made his remarks just two days before Mr Trump’s deadline for America’s trading partners to reach agreements and hours after the US announced that it had

reached an accord with South Korea

that would impose a 15 per cent tariff on imports.

Mr Trump also said he would impose a 25 per cent levy on Indian goods starting on Aug 1 and threatened an additional penalty over the country’s energy purchases from Russia.

In a last-minute bid to avoid the punitive tariff, Thailand had offered greater market access for US products by pledging to scrap tariffs on 90 per cent of its goods.

It also promised to take non-tariff measures to cut its US$46 billion (S$59.5 billion) trade surplus by 70 per cent within three years, in addition to tackling the rerouting of goods produced in other countries.

Thailand’s exports to the US totalled about US$63 billion in 2024, accounting for about 18 per cent of the country’s total shipments. The country’s exports have surged about 15 per cent in the first six months of the year, driven by front-loading of orders following the pause in high tariffs proposed by the Trump administration.

Clinching a lower US tariff rate was seen as key to insulating Thailand’s trade-dependent economy from further downside.

Growth is already under pressure from South-east Asia’s highest household debt and sluggish domestic consumption.

Thai officials have estimated that tariff levels of 36 per cent could shave at least one percentage point off gross domestic product in 2025. BLOOMBERG