Agreement Between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Cambodia on Reciprocal Trade
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA ON RECIPROCAL TRADE
Text
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA ON RECIPROCAL TRADE
Preamble
The United States of America (“United States”) and the Kingdom of Cambodia (“Cambodia”) (individually “a Party” and collectively “the Parties”),
Emphasizing their shared values, including their shared commitment to sovereignty, economic prosperity, and resilient supply chains;
Recognizing the bonds of friendship and cooperation between them, in particular in their trade and investment relations, as reflected in the Trade and Investment Framework Agreementbetweentheir Governments;
Intending to enhance reciprocity in their bilateral trade relationship by addressing tariff and non-tariff barriers;
Seeking to strengthen their commercial relationship through increased alignment on national and regional economic security matters; and
Acknowledging Cambodia’s current development status as a least developed country (LDC);
HAVE AGREED as follows:
Section 1: Tariffs and Quotas
Article 1.1: Tariffs
1. Cambodiashall apply a rate of customs duty on originating goods of the United Statesas set out in Schedule 1 to Annex I.
2. The United States shall apply a revised reciprocal tariff rate on originating goods of Cambodia as set out in Schedule 2 to Annex I.
Article 1.2: Quotas
Cambodia shall not impose quotas on imports of originating goods of the United Statesunless otherwise agreed by the Parties.
Section 2. Non-Tariff Barriers and Related Matters
Article 2.1: Import Licensing and Technical Regulations, Standards, and Conformity Assessment
1. Cambodia shall not apply import licensing[1] to U.S. goods in a manner that restricts the importation of such goods. Cambodia shall ensure that any non-automatic import licensing that it applies is applied only to administer an underlying measure, and in a manner that is transparent, nondiscriminatory, and not unduly burdensome, and that does not reduce the competitiveness of U.S. exports.
2. Cambodia shall allow U.S. goods that comply with applicable U.S. or international standards, U.S. technical regulations, or U.S. or international conformity assessment procedures to enter its territory without additional conformity assessment requirements. In addition:
(a) Cambodia shall accord to the conformity assessment bodies of the United States treatment no less favorable than that it accords to its own bodies.
(b) Cambodia shall facilitate the acceptance of U.S. compliance procedures for goods that are not subject to third-party conformity assessment in the U.S. regulatory framework.
3. Cambodia shall ensure that technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures are applied in a non-discriminatory manner and do not operate as disguised restrictions on bilateral trade, and shall remove existing technical barriers to trade in areas that undermine reciprocity including requirements for duplicative or unnecessary testing or conformity assessment.
Article 2.2: Agriculture
Cambodia shall provide non-discriminatory market access for U.S. agricultural goods as set forth in this Agreement.
(a) Cambodia shall ensure that its sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures are science- and risk-based and do not operate as disguised restrictions on bilateral trade, and shall remove unjustified SPS barriers in areas that undermine reciprocity.
(b) Cambodia shall not enter into agreements or understandings with third countries that include non-scientific, discriminatory, or preferential technical standards; include third-country SPS measures that are incompatible with U.S. or international standards; or otherwise disadvantage U.S. exports to such third countries.
Article 2.3: Geographical Indications
Cambodia shall ensure transparency and fairness with respect to the protection or recognition of geographical indications, including pursuant to an international agreement. In cases where Cambodia protects or recognizes a term that identifies a good as a geographical indication but where there is no given quality, reputation, or other characteristic of the good that is essentially attributable to its geographical origin, Cambodia shall permit use of the term in connection with U.S. goods.
Article 2.4: Cheese and Meat Terms
Cambodia shall not restrict U.S. market access due to the mere use of the individual cheese and meat terms[2] listed in Annex II.
Article 2.5: Intellectual Property
Cambodia shall provide a robust standard of protection for intellectual property.[3] Cambodia shall ratify or accede to, and shall fully implement, the international intellectual property treaties in Article 1.11 of Annex III. Cambodia shallprovide effective systems for civil, criminal, and border enforcement of intellectual property rights and shall ensure that such systems combat and deter the infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property, including in the online environment. Cambodia shall prioritize and shall take effective criminal and border enforcement actions against copyright and trademark infringements.
Article 2.6: Services
Cambodia shall refrain from imposing new barriers that provide less favorable treatment to U.S. services suppliers than the treatment afforded to domestic services suppliers and services suppliers from any third country, jurisdiction, or economy.
Article 2.7: Good Regulatory Practices
Cambodiashall adopt and implement good regulatory practices contained in Article 1.14 of Annex III that ensure greater transparency, predictability, and participation throughout the regulatory lifecycle.
Article 2.8: Labor
1. Cambodia shall adopt and effectively implement a prohibition on the importation of goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced or compulsory labor, as defined by the relevant International Labor Organization (ILO) instruments to which Cambodia is a party. Cambodiamay acknowledge U.S. government determinations on entities under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and shall take appropriate action to prohibit importation of goods from those entities.
2. Cambodia shall protect internationally recognized labor rights.[4] This includes by adopting or maintaining such rights in its law and practice, and effectively enforcing its labor laws, including by creating or maintaining necessary institutions to protect labor rights. Cambodia shall establish and effectively apply appropriate legal sanctions for violations of those laws. Cambodia shall not weaken or reduce the protections in its labor laws to encourage trade or investment.[5] In addition, Cambodia commits to engage with the United States to address issues related to labor rights that contribute to non-reciprocal trade.
Article 2.9: Environment
Cambodia shall adopt and maintain environmental protections, effectively enforce its environmental laws, uphold or institute as necessary strong environmental governance structures, and address environment-related issues that contribute to non-reciprocal trade.
Article 2.10: Customs and Trade Facilitation
1. Taking into account Cambodia’s status as an LDC, Cambodia shall, within five years of the date of entry into force of this Agreement, implement technology solutions that allow for full pre-arrival processing, paperless trade, and digitalized procedures for the movement of goods of the United States across its borders.
2. Cambodia shall maintain transparency and uniformity in the application of its national tariff nomenclature, including in the application of advance rulings, and improve the mechanism for resolution of disputes regarding the tariff classification of imports.
Article 2.11: Border Measures and Taxes
1. If the United States adopts a border measure to combat regulatory arbitrage that would disadvantage U.S. workers and businesses, Cambodia shall consult with the United States regarding appropriate border measures to address the issue.
2. Cambodia shall not contest, including through countervailing measures or at the World Trade Organization (WTO), any measure adopted by the United States to rebate or to refrain from imposing direct taxes in relation to exports from the United States.
3. Cambodia shall not impose value-added taxes that discriminate against U.S. companies in law or in fact.
Section 3. Digital Trade and Technology
Article 3.1: Digital Services Taxes
Cambodia shall not impose digital services taxes, or similar taxes, that discriminate against U.S. companies, in law or in fact.
Article 3.2: Facilitation of Digital Trade
Cambodia shall facilitate digital trade with the United States, including by refraining from measures that discriminate against U.S. digital services or U.S. products distributed digitally, ensuring the free transfer of data across trusted borders for the conduct of business, and collaborating with the United States to address cybersecurity challenges.
Article 3.3: Digital Trade Agreements
Cambodia shall consult with the United States before entering into a new digital trade agreement with another country that jeopardizes essential U.S. interests.
Article 3.4: Market Entry Conditions
Cambodia shall not impose any condition or enforce any undertaking requiring U.S. persons to transfer or provide access to a particular technology, production process, source code, or other proprietary knowledge, or to purchase, utilize, or accord a preference to a particular technology, as a condition for doing business in its territory. This article does not preclude a regulatory body or judicial authority of Cambodia from requiring a person of the United States to preserve and make available the source code of software, or an algorithm expressed in that source code, to the regulatory body or judicial authority for a specific investigation, inspection, examination, enforcement action, or judicial proceeding, subject to safeguards against unauthorized disclosure.
Article 3.5: Customs Duties on Electronic Transmissions
Cambodia shall not impose customs duties on electronic transmissions, including content transmitted electronically, and shall immediately and unconditionally support multilateral adoption of a permanent moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions at the WTO.
Section 4. Rules of Origin
Article 4.1: General Provisions
1. The Parties intend for the benefits of this Agreement to accrue substantially to them and their nationals. If benefits of this Agreement are accruing substantially to third countries or third-country nationals, a Party may establish rules of origin necessary to achieve the Parties’ intention for this Agreement.
2. For greater certainty, Cambodia may promulgate measures, as necessary, to implement and administer rules of origin in order to provide the intended tariff treatment to U.S. goods under this Agreement.
Section 5. Economic and National Security
Article 5.1: Complementary Actions
1. When the United States imposes a customs duty, quota, prohibition, fee, charge, or other import restriction on a good or service of a third country pursuant to relevant domestic law, the United States intends to notify such measures to Cambodia for the purpose of economic security alignment. Upon receiving such notification from the United States, Cambodia shall regulate the importation of that good or service into its territory through similar measures as those of the United States in a manner that does not infringe on Cambodia’s sovereign interests.
2. At the request of the United States, Cambodia shall, consistent with its sovereign interests, adopt and implement measures to address unfairpractices of companies owned or controlled by third countries operating in Cambodia’s jurisdiction, including those that result in: (1) the export of below-market price goods to the United States; (2) increased exports of such goods to the United States; (3) a reduction in U.S. exports to Cambodia; or (4) a reduction in U.S. exports to third-country markets.
3. Cambodia shall, consistent with Cambodia’s sovereign interests, adopt similar measures as those adopted by the United States with respect to shipping and shipbuilding. The Parties shall discuss the structure and effect of such measures.
Article 5.2: Export Controls, Sanctions, Investment Security, and Related Matters
1. Cambodia shall cooperate with the United States to regulate the trade in national security-sensitive technologies and goods through existing multilateral export control regimes; align with relevant U.S. export controls on a case-by-case basis, based on requests from the United States; and ensure that its companies do not backfill or undermine these controls.
2. Cambodia shall cooperate with the United States with a view to restricting transactions of its nationals with third-country individuals and entities included on the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List (Supplement 4 of Part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations), as well as the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control Lists of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) and the Non-SDN Consolidated Sanctions List.
3. At the request of the United States, Cambodia shall cooperate in providing information available to Cambodia, subject to a mutually agreed protocol for confidential information, about investment activity in its territory by third countries with a view toward increasing transparency and cooperation with the United States, including through technical exchanges, on economic and national security matters.
4. If the United States determines that Cambodia is cooperating to address shared national and economic security issues, the United States may take such cooperation into account in administering its laws and regulations pertaining to export controls and other measures.
Article 5.3: Other Measures
1. The United States shall work with Cambodia to streamline and enhance defense trade.
2. Cambodiashall adopt and effectively enforce measures to combat practices that evade or circumvent duties applied by the United States, including illegal transshipment. Cambodia shall also enter into a duty evasion cooperation agreement with the United States.
3. If Cambodia enters into a new bilateral free trade agreement or preferential economic agreement that the United States considers undermines this Agreement or otherwise poses a material threat to economic or national security, the United States may terminate this Agreement pursuant to Article 7.4.
Section 6. Commercial Considerations and Opportunities
Article 6.1: Investment
1. Cambodia shall allow and facilitate U.S. investment in its territory to explore, mine, extract, refine, process, transport, distribute, and export critical minerals and energy resources and to supply power, telecommunication, transportation, and infrastructure services on terms no less favorable than it accords to its own investors in like circumstances, and shall regulate those investments in keeping with minimum standards of international law.
2. The United States shall work through U.S. institutions such as the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), if eligible, to consider supporting investment financing in critical sectors in Cambodia in collaboration with U.S. private sector partners, consistent with applicable law.
3. Cambodia shall facilitate job-creating, greenfield investment in the United States.
Article 6.2: Commercial Considerations
1. Cambodia shall, to the extent possible, exercise its ownership or control rights over its State-Owned or -Controlled Enterprises (SOEs) to cause such entities, when engaging in commercial activities, to: (1) act in accordance with commercial considerations in their purchase or sale of goods or services; and (2) refrain from discriminating against goods or services of the United States that are offered on comparable terms and conditions, including price. Cambodia shall refrain from providing preferential subsidies to its goods-producing SOEs. Cambodia confirms that foreign SOEs and private enterprises are treated equally under its investment law.[6]
2. Upon the written request of the United States regarding any non-commercial assistance or subsidy that it alleges Cambodia provides to a domestic manufacturing enterprise in its territory,[7] Cambodia shall investigate the allegation and provide, for discussion and consideration, information regarding any forms of non-commercial assistance or subsidies that it provides to such domestic manufacturing enterprise and shall take action to address any significant distortive impacts of such subsidies and support mechanisms on trade and investment with the United States.
Article 6.3: Purchases
As set out in Article 4.1 of Annex III, Cambodia shall purchase originating goods of the United States.
Section 7. Implementation, Enforcement, and Final Provisions
Article 7.1: Annexes and Footnotes
The annexes and footnotes to this Agreement constitute an integral part of this Agreement.
Article 7.2: Amendments
The Parties may agree, in writing, to amend this Agreement. An amendment shall enter into force on the date on which the later Party has provided written notice to the other Party of the approval of the amendment in accordance with applicable legal procedures, or on such other date as the Parties may agree.
Article 7.3: Enforcement
If either Party considers that the other Party has not complied with a provision of this Agreement, the Party may review the terms of the Agreement and take action in accordance with applicable domestic law. Prior to taking such action, the Party shall, when practicable, seek consultations with the other Party.
Article 7.4: Termination
Either Party may terminate this Agreement by providing written notice of termination to the other Party. Termination shall take effect six months after the date of such notification. When practicable, a Party shall provide the other Party an opportunity to consult before providing such notice.
Article 7.5: Entry Into Force
Each Party shall notify the other Party, in writing, once the internal procedures required for entry into force of this Agreement have been completed. This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the last notification.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.
DONE in duplicate at Kuala Lumpur, this 26th day of October, 2025.
For the Government of the For the Government of the
United States of America: Kingdom of Cambodia:
Donald J. Trump Hun Manet
President Prime Minister
[1] For greater certainty, “import licensing” and “non-automatic import licensing” have the same meanings as provided in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures.
[2] For greater certainty, this paragraph is without prejudice to multi-component terms that include an individual cheese or meat term listed in Annex II as a component.
[3] For purposes of this Agreement, “intellectual property” refers to all categories of intellectual property that are the subject of Sections 1 through 7 of Part II of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Further, for purposes of this Agreement, the protection of intellectual property includes matters related to technological protection measures and rights management information.
[4] For purposes of this paragraph, internationally recognized labor rights include those in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-Up (1998), as amended in 2022; a prohibition on the worst forms of child labor; and acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages and hours of work.
[5] For greater certainty, the scope of this paragraph includes special economic zones, including export processing zones, or sector-specific laws or regulations that have lesser labor protections than the overall economy.
[6] For greater certainty, “investment law” refers to the Law on Investment of the Kingdom of Cambodia, promulgated on October 15, 2021.
[7] For greater certainty, generally available non-discriminatory investment incentives provided under the Law on Investment of the Kingdom of Cambodia (promulgated on October 15, 2021) are not subject to this provision provided that they do not materially discriminate or distort bilateral trade or investment.