Trump signs new trade pacts with Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam

According to media news, the US signed a series of new trade and minerals cooperation agreements with Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam on Sunday, aiming to strengthen economic ties and reduce reliance on China amid tightening Chinese export controls on rare earths. The deals, reached during Trump’s visit to Kuala Lumpur for the ASEAN summit, include reciprocal trade arrangements and framework agreements to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers while expanding US access to regional markets.

Under the new pacts, Washington will keep existing tariffs at about 19–20% for most Southeast Asian goods but will lower them to zero for selected products.

Vietnam, which enjoys a large trade surplus with the US, pledged to increase imports of American goods, while Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia agreed to improve market access and boost cooperation in sectors such as digital trade, services, and investment. Thailand will also scrap tariffs on nearly all US products and relax foreign ownership limits in its telecom sector, alongside multibillion-dollar purchases of US agricultural, energy, and aviation goods.

A key focus of the talks was ensuring stable critical minerals supply chains. Malaysia, which holds significant rare earth reserves, agreed not to restrict exports of these materials to the US as both sides look to develop downstream processing capacity independent of China.