The Trump administration may have changed the fates of Cambodia and Thailand, two nations Americans rarely consider, all without doling out billions in USAID or dropping a single bomb.

The two southeast Asian nations were embroiled in a conflict that has displaced 260,000, killed dozens and threatened to escalate into a much worse fight. The two countries may have had an embittered history full of fighting, but one thing was strong enough to make peace prevail: trade.

Trump has helped broker several deals to end fighting between countries so far, though not all relied on this economic-centered approach. Trump claims a similar threat helped generate ceasefire between India and Pakistan, though that is disputed. 

“We solved it through trade,” Trump said of the deal between Thailand and Cambodia. “I said, ‘I don’t want to trade with anybody that’s killing each other.’”

This time, the president didn’t need military intervention or billions in handouts. His weapon of choice was threatening to withhold trade, something that could hurt the economies of the warring nations, and they were able to move beyond their differences.

Contrast announcements like this with the foreign policy legacy of Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, whose first year was marred by images of U.S. planes taking off with desperate Afghans clinging to the wheels. The country has been taken over by the Taliban, and 13 Americans died in the process.

In light of the failed foreign policy of the last two decades — leaving us a destabilized Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, and Syria, etc. — Americans are open to foreign policy approaches that avoid the typical tactics — namely military intervention. More recently, the president’s DOGE efforts have revealed the widespread rot through foreign aid programs. From funding transgender operas to putting money in the hands of Hamas, USAID’s worst moments ranged from embarrassing to dangerous.

Don’t we have any other options?

In the case of Thailand and Cambodia, Trump’s unorthodox style served him well. We reached a deal without a dollar or a bullet. There are risks to overleveraging economic diplomacy, especially with sanctions, but this time it seems to have worked.

I’m not an expert, so I can’t tell you what this means for every future conflict or the U.S.’s role in the world, but this feels different, and the results are undeniable.

For decades, the paradigm of U.S. stewarding its role as the sole superpower has mostly been twofold:

• Send billions overseas with few questions asked about efficacy.
• Maintain the international order selectively by threatening, and sometimes following through, with military action.

Those two tools have their place, but what if there is a better way? What if we can use the offer of prosperity — not the threat of force — to mediate conflicts?

Trump famously promised to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and has so far failed to do so, though not without trying. However, this latest win provides a new paradigm for helping the world that deviates from the old ways, of which Americans have grown weary.

Contrast this approach with our rival China and the predatory nature of its investment. China approaches nations and promises investment and new infrastructure. But they often take over precious ports or resources and place spying capability in the nation. China may have important real estate near military bases, as they do in the U.S., or charge massive interest on poorer nations. These international payday loans can make nations the economic serfs of China, which is the plan, of course. The borrower is the slave to the lender.

Instead of control and predatory communism, the U.S. can offer prosperity via trade, which historically has been a key to binding nations together in peace, even if they are very different from one another. The offer of mostly free trade with Western nations will be a powerful alternative to the predatory investment of China. On top of that, the more the U.S. is seen as a stabilizing force in the world, the more nations will be willing to settle into the American hegemony and thereby strengthen the dollar.

Maybe it won’t work forever, but for now, it is nice to win overseas. Let’s enjoy it.