Ahead of Trump Call, Fighting Between Thailand and Cambodia Intensifies
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The widening scope of the conflict between the two neighbors presents a challenge to President Trump’s tariff diplomacy, which he has brandished as a peacemaking tool.
When Thai and Cambodian troops clashed this summer, they fought in contained areas near contested temples and frontline military positions. The use of air power was limited, and within five days they reached a cease-fire.
The root of this week’s hostilities remains the same — a decades-old border dispute — but the scope has been broader.
Thailand has expanded aerial warfare, using F-16 fighter jets and drones to strike buildings that it says are weapons depots and military command centers. Cambodia has responded by firing rockets into Thailand, with each side claiming the other had targeted civilian areas. More than a dozen people have been killed and roughly 600,000 displaced from near the border, twice as many as in July.
President Trump said on Wednesday that he plans to talk with the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia. In July, he used the threat of tariffs to get them to the negotiating table, a strategy he claims has helped him end several conflicts. He is likely to try the same approach again with the Southeast Asian neighbors, but circumstances have changed.
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