WASHINGTON - US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the United States had reached trade agreements with Cambodia and Thailand, days after the South-east Asian neighbours agreed to a ceasefire at US President Donald Trump’s urging after deadly clashes along their disputed border.

“And you know what we did today? We made trade deals with Cambodia and Thailand,” Mr Lutnick said on the night of July 30 in an interview with Mr Sean Hannity on Fox News. He did not elaborate before the interview ended.

The White House and Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for further details. 

Mr Trump had used trade talks as a cudgel to bring both nations to the negotiating table, threatening that Washington would not reach trade deals with either as long as the fighting continued.

After the

peace deal was inked

, Mr Trump called leaders of both countries and told his trade team to restart talks with both nations.

Mr Lutnick made his remarks just two days before Mr Trump’s deadline for America’s trading partners to reach agreements and hours after the US announced that it had

reached an accord with South Korea

that would impose a 15 per cent tariff on imports.

Mr Trump also said he would impose a 25 per cent levy on Indian goods starting on Aug 1 and threatened an additional penalty over the country’s energy purchases from Russia. BLOOMBERG

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