October 6, 2025

President Donald Trump is willing to attend a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Malaysia later this month — as long as he gets to showcase his regional peacemaking efforts.

The White House is conditioning Trump’s attendance at the Oct. 26-28 ASEAN meeting on the Malaysian government agreeing to allow Trump to preside over a ceremonial signing of a peace deal between Cambodia and Thailand on the summit sidelines, according to three people familiar with those plans who were granted anonymity due the sensitivity of the topic.

It’s the kind of high-profile event that would give Trump — who has claimed he played a decisive role in ending a deadly five day cross-border conflict between the two countries in July — an international platform to trumpet his bona fides as “peacemaker-in-chief.”

Read more: