Thai, Cambodian armies trade gunfire across border, killing 12 Thais
DANIELLE KEETON-OLSEN and YUICHI NITTA
PHNOM PENH/BANGKOK -- The Cambodian and Thai armies exchanged gunfire across the border in several places on Thursday, killing at least 11 Thai civilians and a soldier, while the governments downgraded diplomatic relations in sharp escalation of a crisis over disputed territory.
Thai Minister of Public Health Somsak Thepsuthin said another 24 people had been injured, in addition to the fatalities. "The loss of lives today is unacceptable," he said. The Cambodian authorities have not released any figures.
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The Diplomat
4 hours ago
- The Diplomat
Trump Cuts Tariffs on Cambodia and Thailand to 19% After Border Ceasefire
The U.S. government has nearly halved its threatened tariffs on imports from Thailand and Cambodia, just days after the two nations declared a ceasefire in a conflict over their border. According to an updated schedule of 'reciprocal tariff rates' issued by the White House late yesterday, both nations have seen their tariffs reduced to 19 percent, down from the threatened 36 percent. Beginning on July 24, the two nations fought a fierce five-day border conflict that has killed at least 43 people and displaced more than 300,000 people in both countries. After the outbreak of the conflict, President Donald Trump threatened to block trade deals with them unless they stopped fighting. By Monday, both countries had agreed to a ceasefire, which, despite mutual claims of violations, continues to hold. While many were reduced considerably from the tariffs unveiled in Trump's 'liberation day' announcement in April, Politico notes that it has lifted U.S. tariffs to 'the highest amount in more than a century.' The new rates come in on August 7. According to the text of an executive order announcing the new rates, the tariffs are intended to address 'the continued lack of reciprocity in our bilateral trade relationships and the impact of foreign trading partners' disparate tariff rates and non-tariff barriers on U.S. exports, the domestic manufacturing base, critical supply chains, and the defense industrial base.' The Thai and Cambodian tariffs were announced along with updated rates for 65 other countries, which included tariffs of 40 percent for Laos and Myanmar, 25 percent for Brunei, and 19 percent for Malaysia. It also confirmed the rates that Trump announced with Vietnam (20 percent), Indonesia (19 percent), and the Philippines (19 percent). Singapore and Timor-Leste are the only Southeast Asian nations to be hit just with the administration's baseline 10 percent tariff, a reflection of the fact that the U.S. enjoys trade surpluses with both. Thailand and Cambodia both responded positively to the tariff reduction. In a Facebook post, Deputy PM and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said that the tariff reduction 'reflects strong Thai-US friendship and keeps Thailand globally competitive while boosting investor confidence and creating new economic opportunities.' He added that the Thai government was preparing 'budget allocations, soft loans, subsidies, tax measures, and regulatory reforms' to help those affected by the tariff. The reduction has also been praised by Cambodia's government. 'This is a good news for the citizens and economy of Cambodia to continue developing the country,' Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a Facebook post today. Phnom Penh has reasons to be satisfied with the outcome. Over the past decade, policymakers in Washington have grown alarmed with Cambodia's increasing economic and security relations with China, particularly with Beijing's refurbishment of (and likely preferential access to) the Ream Naval Base, the first phase of which was inaugurated earlier this year. These U.S. concerns might have been expected to hamper Phnom Penh's ability to negotiate its tariff down from the hefty 49 percent tariff initially announced in April, threatening to push it into the same category as Laos, another close partner of Beijing. As the Southeast Asian nation most exposed to the U.S. market, which took 37 percent of its exports in 2023, this hefty rate threatened to wreck Cambodia's manufacturing sector and potentially cast tens of thousands out of work. Cambodian policymakers will be relieved that they avoided this outcome. Indeed, the fact that such a close Chinese partner was able to obtain the same rate as Thailand, a U.S. treaty ally, speaks partly to the incoherence of the Trump administration's trade policies. It also probably reflects the canny way in which Cambodian leaders have leveraged the recent border conflict to their advantage. In the wake of Monday's ceasefire, Cambodian leaders, including former Prime Minister Hun Sen, went out of their way to praise Trump for his intercession in the border conflict with Thailand. After its announcement, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and chief trade negotiator Sun Chanthol said that Trump should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in facilitating the ceasefire with Thailand – a position that has since been echoed online and in regime-aligned media. U.S.-Cambodia relations, which touched a nadir during the first Trump term, are being rebuilt on a bedrock of flattery. Malaysia would also be relatively satisfied with the 19 percent tariff, which marks a reduction from the 25 percent announced in a 'tariff letter' sent to the country last month. Yesterday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told parliament that the tariff rate 'will ease and not burden our economy.' In fact, eight of Southeast Asia's 11 nations have now secured a tariff rate of 20 percent or lower. Of these, six, which also happen to be among the region's largest exporters, have finalized tariffs of either 19 or 20 percent. This is lower than the 25 percent imposed on India and a nominal total of 79 percent on China (although this is still under negotiation), and higher than the 15 percent imposed on Japan and South Korea. Assuming all of these rates hold, this allows the region to remain relatively competitive in terms of access to the U.S. market, while more or less preserving the current competitive balance between its major exporters. The situation is much worse for Laos and Myanmar, each of which has been slugged with one of the highest tariff rates in the world, despite seeing slight reductions on the 48 percent and 46 percent initially announced by Trump in April. Neither nation trades especially much with the U.S., whose trade with Myanmar totaled $734 million in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Total trade with Laos came to $844 million. (This compares to the $81 billion in trade that the U.S. conducted with Thailand last year and the $13 billion with Cambodia.) The U.S. was Myanmar's fifth-largest export market in 2022, and Laos' 12th-largest in 2021. Nonetheless, these punitive 40 percent tariffs are set to deepen the economic turmoil in both nations' floundering export-oriented manufacturing sectors, and deepen their already considerable economic connections to China. Exactly why Laos and Myanmar have been subject to such higher duties remains unclear, given the lack of clarity in the Trump administration's trade policy. It could be that neither nation showed what the Trump team considered to be sufficient eagerness to conclude a trade deal prior to the deadline; most of the Southeast Asian nations that successfully negotiated down their tariffs pledged to make large purchases of U.S. goods, including energy, agricultural products, and Boeing aircraft. It could also reflect the extent of their relations with China, or a combination of both. In any event, there is no guarantee that any of the current rates will be stable long enough for investors to begin making significant financial decisions on that basis. The tariffs also supposedly include a tariff of 40 percent for goods that the Trump administration deems to have been transshipped from other nations (i.e. China), although the criteria by which these decisions will be made remain unclear. While Trump has successfully used Washington's economic power to extract economic concessions from its main trade partners, the longer-term impact of the tariff war will likely be detrimental to U.S. economic influence. As my colleague James Guild wrote earlier this week, of the U.S. deals with Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, Trump's use of American leverage 'will almost certainly drive countries in the region away from America and toward other trade and development partners in Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere.'
Nikkei Asia
9 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Thailand-Cambodia clashes shake two labor markets
Cambodians who work in Thailand pour across the Ban Laem border checkpoint as they return home on July 28 due to border clashes between the countries. © Reuters APORNRATH PHOONPHONGPHIPHAT and ANANTH BALIGA BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH -- Tens of thousands of Cambodian migrant workers have returned home from Thailand in the past eight days as border clashes escalated, triggering fears among officials of an economic hit for both countries -- in Thailand as a result of a labor shortage and in Cambodia from rising unemployment. Estimates of how many Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand returned home over the past week vary widely. The Thai Labor Ministry said around 20,000 workers had returned to Cambodia as they feared for their safety as a result of the tension between the countries.
Japan Today
12 hours ago
- Japan Today
Key things to know about how Elon Musk has boosted hard-right figures in Europe
By ERIKA KINETZ and AARON KESSLER Elon Musk may have tumbled from political grace in Washington, D.C., but as he seeks to build a new political party, his power on X — where he commands the most popular account — remains unchecked. Musk is a kingmaker on the platform he acquired in 2022 for $44 billion. He has used his influence to cultivate hard-right politicians and insurgent activists across Europe. A retweet or reply from Musk can lead to millions of views and tens of thousands of new followers, according to an Associated Press analysis of public data. That fact has not been lost on influencers who have tagged Musk persistently, seeking a reply or a retweet. It has also fueled concerns in Europe about foreign meddling -- not from Russia or China, but from the United States. 'Every alarm bell needs to ring,' Christel Schaldemose, a vice president of the European Parliament who works on electoral interference and digital regulation, told AP. The Associated Press analyzed more than 20,000 posts, which were compiled by Bright Data, over a three-year period from a sample of 11 European figures who had significant interactions with Musk and frequently promote a hard-right political or social agenda. These case studies are not meant to be representative of a broad universe; rather they showcase the ways in which Musk's engagement can have an impact on local influencers that share his views. Since acquiring Twitter in October 2022, Elon Musk's followers have more than doubled, to over 220 million. No other large account has shown such high or consistent growth. The result: If Musk's X account is his megaphone, it has gotten a lot bigger since he took over -- a change that has global implications. The accounts Musk has been promoting are part of a growing global alliance of nationalistic parties and individuals united in common cause to halt migration, overturn progressive policies and promote an absolutist vision of free speech, which has rattled the foundation of a trans-Atlantic bond that guided U.S. and European relations for over eight decades. Several of the accounts AP analyzed belong to people who have faced allegations of illegal behavior in their own countries. Tommy Robinson, an anti-immigrant agitator in the U.K., was sentenced in October to 18 months in prison for violating a court order blocking him from making libelous allegations against a Syrian refugee. Bjoern Hoecke, a politician from Germany's Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party, was convicted last year of knowingly using a Nazi slogan in a speech. Italian vice premier Matteo Salvini was acquitted in December of allegations he illegally detained 100 migrants aboard a humanitarian rescue ship Among the others examined by AP: Alice Weidel, who helped lead Germany's Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party to its best electoral showing this year; Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a Dutch influencer known as the 'shieldmaiden of the far-right'; Naomi Seibt, a German activist dubbed the 'anti-Greta Thunberg' now living in what amounts to political exile in Washington DC; Rubén Pulido and Foro Madrid, both associated with Spain's populist Vox party; and Fidias Panayioutou, a politician from Cyprus who has also advocated for Musk's companies. These accounts collectively gained roughly 5 million followers from the time Musk took over Twitter in October 2022 through January of this year. Most saw triple-digit percentage increases in their followers -- as high as 920%, or in one case of a tiny account exploding over that time, topping 6,000%. Even some accounts that grew more steadily on their own saw their follower counts sharply begin rising once Musk started interacting with them. Similarly, on days Musk interacted with a post, the number of views the account got soared — in most cases, accruing two to four times as many views, with a few seeing boosts 30 or 40 times their normal daily viewership. More established players in Musk's orbit -- like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose ruling Brothers of Italy party has neo-fascist roots — benefit less when Musk interacts with them on X, AP found. Musk's dominance creates a strong incentive for people to get Musk to engage with their content. Naomi Seibt, a German climate skeptic, pinged Musk nearly 600 times over the past three years. Musk finally engaged in June 2024, when he asked her to explain why the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is so controversial in Germany. Since then, Musk has replied to, quoted or tagged Seibt more than 50 times, and her followers have grown by more than 320,000 since Musk took over the platform. On days Musk interacted with Seibt, her posts, on average, got 2.6 times as many views. 'I didn't intentionally 'invade' Elon's algorithm,' Seibt told AP. 'Obviously Elon has a lot of influence and can help share a message even with those who are usually glued to the legacy media, particularly in Germany.' Alice Weidel, who helps lead the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, saw her daily audience surge from 230,000 to 2.2 million on days Musk interacted with her posts on X. After Musk hosted a livestream with Weidel on X, vice president JD Vance broke protocol and met her in Munich. Weidel's party, which is fighting a lawsuit to block the German government's decision to designate it as an extremist group, went on to secure its best electoral showing ever. Musk has also used X to advocate for the leader of Italy's hard-right League party, Matteo Salvini. On days Musk interacted with Salvini's account, average views were more than four times higher than usual. Now serving as vice premier, Salvini has urged his government to move ahead with controversial contracts for Starlink and pushed back against European efforts to regulate content on X. And Musk has a friend in Brussels: Fidias Panayiotou — a 25-year-old social media influencer from Cyprus. Before winning a surprise seat in the European Parliament last year, the Cypriot spent weeks on a quest to get Elon Musk to hug him. In January 2023, his wish came true. Their embrace went viral. Since taking office, Panayiotou has praised X on the floor of the European Parliament, pushed back against regulations that impact the platform, and credited Musk with sparking his call to fire 80% of EU bureaucrats. Musk, evidently, was pleased. 'Vote for Fidias,' he wrote on X. 'He is smart, super high energy and genuinely cares about you!' The endorsement has been viewed 11.5 million times. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
