President Donald Trump is being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Cambodia for helping to avert a deadly war in the region.
Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol announced the decision on Friday, citing Trump’s role in halting its border dispute with Thailand.
Clashes between the two neighboring countries broke out late last week, with each accusing the other of firing first.
At least 43 people were killed in intense skirmishes, which lasted five days and displaced more than 300,000 people on both sides of the border.
The conflict began to wind down after Trump called Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai on July 26, Reuters reported.
A ceasefire was agreed to in Malaysia on July 28, ending the worst fighting between the two nations in the last decade.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, Chanthol thanked Trump for intervening and said he deserved to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The prize is the highest-profile international award given to an individual or organization deemed to have done the most to ‘advance fellowship between nations’.
Most recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nominated Trump for the prize for his work in 2020 negotiating the Abraham Accords between Israel and several other Arab nations.
Netanyahu’s letter to the prize committee, which he handed to the president at the White House during a visit on July 7, said Trump had ‘created new opportunities to expand the circle of peace and normalization’ in the Middle East.
Trump has assisted Israel’s war in Gaza and has also aided in its campaign against Iran, authorizing a mission in June to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites.
Pakistan also said in June that it would recommend Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in helping to resolve a conflict it had with India back in May.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. The ceremony is held in Oslo, Norway.
After peace was declared between Cambodia and Thailand, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that Trump made it happen.
‘Give him the Nobel Peace Prize!,’ she said.
Cambodia’s nod to Trump comes after the United States set the tariff rate on Cambodian goods at 19 percent.
When Trump first announced his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs at the White House on April 2, Cambodia was originally to be hit with a 49 percent import tax.
That was the highest of any Southeast Asian nation, and it likely would have crippled Cambodia since the US is its single largest export market.
Cambodia is where huge companies such as Gap, Levi’s and Nike choose to manufacture their clothing and sneakers.
Chanthol said he was grateful for the reduced rate.
Thailand and Indonesia also received a 19 percent tariff rate on Friday, while Vietnam was slapped with a 20 percent rate.
