Cambodia to rename key highway after Donald Trump for brokering peace deal

Cambodia is considering renaming its busiest trade route, National Highway 4, in honour of Donald Trump, following the U.S. president’s role in brokering a ceasefire with Thailand. The proposal, first suggested by state journalist Soy Sopheap and publicly backed by Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, comes as Prime Minister Hun Manet nominates Trump for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

Cambodia is set to rename its most important highway after President Donald Trump following his role in peace negotiations with neighbouring Thailand.

The U.S leader has become a hero figure in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation after stepping in to broker a ceasefire in the face of bloody clashes with the Thai military last month.

The renaming idea was first raised by prominent state journalist Soy Sopheap, who has close ties to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and runs the pro-government network Deum Ampil. 

Sopheap suggested naming the highway after Trump during discussions with American documentary maker Michael Alfaro, who has been filming a series on regional politics.

In a later video in which Alfaro interviews Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol in Phnom Penh, Sopheap himself does not appear on screen. Instead, Sun and Alfaro refer to him by name, crediting him as the originator of the proposal. Sun explicitly endorses Sopheap’s suggestion during the conversation, signalling that the idea had already been circulating behind the scenes and was now being placed on record.

Sun Chanthol, who also serves as Cambodia’s Minister of Public Works and Transport, told Alfaro: “I think it would get a lot of support within the country, so Soy Sopheap is going to push for that, and hopefully that will be realised soon. The movement in the country would see a lot of support, really in the social media, but it would have to go through formalities, to get approval from the prime minister and so on and so forth.”

If approved, Cambodia would become the first country outside the United States to rename a national highway after President Trump.

The road in question, National Highway 4, runs 230 kilometres (140 miles) from Phnom Penh to the coastal port of Sihanoukville. It was originally built with American support between 1959 and 1969, when Washington was locked in Cold War rivalry with Moscow and Beijing for influence in Southeast Asia. Today it remains the country’s busiest trade artery, linking the capital to the deep-water port that has become Cambodia’s economic lifeline.

The renaming initiative is part of a broader wave of official praise for the US president. Prime Minister Hun Manet, who took over leadership from his long-ruling father Hun Sen last year, has formally nominated Trump for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. In a letter sent to the Norwegian Nobel Committee on August 7, Hun Manet lauded Trump’s “extraordinary statesmanship” in helping to defuse a dangerous confrontation with Thailand.

The fighting had erupted on July 24 near the Ta Muen Thom temple, an ancient Khmer site along the Cambodian-Thai border claimed by both nations. The skirmishes escalated rapidly into heavy artillery exchanges. Eleven Thai civilians were killed when shells landed on the Thai side of the frontier. In retaliation, the Thai air force launched F-16 strikes on Cambodian military positions, with bombs falling close to a UNESCO-listed heritage site.

Over the following days, dozens of civilians and soldiers from both countries were reported killed. Villages emptied as terrified families fled, and thousands of refugees were forced into makeshift camps on both sides of the border.

With fears growing of a wider war, President Trump intervened directly. Backed by U.S State Department envoys, he telephoned Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, urging restraint. Trump then convened an emergency teleconference, during which the two leaders agreed to a ceasefire monitored by observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The ceasefire has largely held, with artillery pulled back and cross-border trade resuming. Trump declared the outcome “a victory for peace,” while Cambodian state media praised him as the man who saved the region from a deeper conflict.

Soy Sopheap’s role as the first to suggest immortalising Trump on Cambodia’s most vital highway has been heavily promoted in domestic coverage. Although absent from Alfaro’s footage, his influence is front and centre, with Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol openly attributing the idea to him on camera. That moment effectively moved the proposal from private discussion into the public and political sphere.

For Hun Manet’s government, embracing Trump has both symbolic and strategic value. It offers a counterbalance to criticism that Cambodia is too dependent on China, while also appealing to grassroots nationalism at home. On social media, pro-government pages have been filled with memes and posters hailing Trump as “a friend of Cambodia.”

If the plan is approved, the road from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville may soon be known worldwide as Trump Highway, a gesture that underlines how one of the world’s poorest nations has embraced an American president as a peacemaker and protector.