Thailand Says Trump Call About Cambodia Conflict Is Set for Friday

President Trump’s planned intervention comes as the hostilities entered their fifth day and appeared to escalate, and while Thailand moves toward early elections.Thailand’s prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul is likely to stake out a hard-line position on the conflict, analysts said. On Friday he spoke at Government House in Bangkok about dissolving Parliament.Credit...Chalinee Thirasupa/ReutersDec. 12, 2025Updated 4:26 a.m. ETPresident Trump is expected to speak with Thailand’s prime minister on Friday, as he seeks burnish his self-styled image as a peacemaker by intervening in a border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia that entered its fifth day.The two men have a phone call scheduled for around 9:30 p.m. Bangkok time, according to the Thai government. Mr. Trump has said he would also speak with the Cambodian leadership but it was unclear when that would happen.Six weeks ago, the leaders of both countries signed a peace agreement in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with Mr. Trump in attendance. But the pact was always tenuous and it unraveled quickly, with tensions boiling over on Monday.Since then Thailand has carried out air raids in Cambodia, which responded with rocket fire. More than 20 people have been killed along their disputed border and more than half a million displaced. The Thai army appeared to continue its offensive on Thursday night, according to some Cambodians living along the border.Dek Koma, 25, who lives about 10 miles from a clash site in Banteay Meanchey province, said the shooting was intense and the shelling continued well into the night. “The explosions were very strong. They shelled heavily from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. — very loud,” he said. “Before, they didn’t shell much at night.”When fighting broke out in July, Mr. Trump threatened both sides that he would scrap tariff negotiations if they did not reach a cease-fire. On Friday, he could use the same tactic. But the territorial dispute, which stems from a map drawn by colonial France, is decades old and likely to persist.“I don’t think it would be realistic to hope for breakthroughs at this stage,” said Napon Jatusripitak, director of the Center for Politics and Geopolitics at Thailand Future, a Bangkok-based think tank. The conflict is at a “level that we have not seen in history.”The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside working hours.The Thai premier, Anutin Charnvirakul, is likely to stake out a hard-line position on the conflict, analysts said.ImagePresident Donald Trump attended a signing ceremony with the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in October.Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York TimesOn Thursday night, Mr. Anutin — who only assumed office in September — unexpectedly dissolved parliament, a move that was designed to pre-empt a no-confidence vote against him. He has been under political pressure for what critics said was a mismanaged disaster response to deadly flooding in southern Thailand.Now with new elections looming early next year, he is expected to try to capitalize on the nationalistic mood around the country to boost his reputation and the standing of his party, Bhumjaithai, which is close to Thailand’s powerful military. Mr. Trump still has a window of opportunity to pressure Thailand, said Tita Sanglee, an associate fellow with the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. Thailand is an export-driven economy and the United States is one of its biggest markets.“The global pressure works on us,” Ms. Tita added. “If Trump says ‘I’m going to up your tariff by 100 percent,’ what are we going to do?“I think they’re just buying time,” she added. “They’re trying to neutralize Cambodian capabilities as much as possible when Trump has not yet intervened.”Thailand’s armed forces are much more advanced than Cambodia’s, which do not have an operating air force.But that could turn out to be a disadvantage in talks with Mr. Trump, said Panitan Wattanayagorn, a former adviser to Thailand’s National Security Council.Cambodia could portray itself as a victim, he said, by citing videos released by the Thai military of aerial attacks by Thai F-16 jets on Cambodian targets.Cambodia’s government said it could not confirm whether Mr. Trump would call Prime Minister Hun Manet, but said that it hopes the U.S. president “will continue to seek peace between the two countries.”“We believe that his excellency the president is also a president of peace, and he will continue helping to facilitate,” said Pen Bona, a spokesman for the Cambodian government.Li Nam, 38, said the Cambodian authorities ordered him to leave his house in Oddar Meanchey province near the border on Thursday night. He had stayed when the fighting broke out on Monday to look after his wooden house, seven pigs, dozens of chickens and grocery store. On Thursday night, he slept in the fields.He said the village chief had told him and others “that my area was a red zone and that serious fighting might happen during the night.”This year is not the first time that Thailand and Cambodia have exchanged fire over their nearly 500-mile-long boundary, large parts of which are undefined.In 2011, sporadic clashes near a disputed temple turned deadly. The fighting stopped only after a United Nations court ordered Thailand to pull back troops two years later.Muktita Suhartono and Kittiphum Sringammuang contributed reporting from Bangkok and Sun Narinfrom Banteay Meanchey in Cambodia.Sui-Lee Wee is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region.SKIP