Head of Myanmar's military government visits Thailand in rare trip abroad

BANGKOK (AP) — The head of Myanmar’s military government arrived in Thailand on Thursday for a regional summit, making a rare international trip as his country recovers from a devastating earthquake that killed thousands.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has been shunned by much of the West for overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and subsequent brutal repression. He has not been allowed to participate in meetings of another regional organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, since the army seized of power in February 2021 and began violently suppressing opposition.

He is one of several regional leaders visiting Bangkok for a three-day summit of nations in the Bay of Bengal region.

It was Min Aung Hlaing's first to a country other than his government’s main supporters and backers — China, Russia and Russian ally Belarus — since he attended a regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.

He was greeted upon arrival at the airport by Thai Labor Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn and later attended an official dinner for leaders of the seven-member Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or BIMSTEC, which includes Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The meeting comes as Myanmar is still searching for survivors in the rubble left by a massive earthquake last week. The magnitude 7.7 quake toppled thousands of buildings, collapsed bridges and buckled roads. The death toll rose to 3,085 on Thursday, with more than 4,700 people injured and over 300 missing, the military said in a statement.

It worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis due to Myanmar’s civil war. More than 3 million people had been displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million were in need even before it hit, according to the United Nations.

The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs said BIMSTEC members discussed disaster management during ministerial meetings on Thursday. Thailand postponed the meeting from last year after then-prime minister Srettha Thavisin was suddenly removed from his post by a court.

The earthquake killed at least 22 people in Bangkok, mostly due to the collapse of a high-rise building under construction.

The general’s visit drew condemnation and criticisms from his opponents. The shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, established by elected lawmakers who were barred from taking their seats, said it strongly condemed the inclusion of Min Aung Hlaing at the summit. It said he doesn't have the legitimacy to represent Myanmar.

The NUG said it urges BIMSTEC to "immediately revoke the military junta’s participation in the summit and related meetings.”

Activist group Justice for Myanmar said in a statement that the invitation for Min Aung Hlaing to attend the meeting “legitimises and emboldens a military junta that the people of Myanmar have been resisting for over four years, and tarnishes BIMSTEC’s reputation as a regional body.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied Thursday that the invitation had tarnished Thailand’s reputation.

“I think the inverse would occur if we don’t adhere to what the charter says and enshrined in the charter it says that Thailand has the responsibility to invite the leaders of all BIMSTEC leaders,” said ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura.

Among other leaders attending the summit are Muhammad Yunus, chief advisor to the Bangladesh government, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to the media during a press conference at the government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jirasak Jivawatanawanit)

Sri Lanka Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya arrives at a hotel during the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) ministerial meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Nepal Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, center, arrives at a hotel during the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) ministerial meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, center, arrives at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, in Samut Prakarn Province, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, center, and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jirasak Jivawatanawanit)

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, escorted by Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, listens to national anthems during a welcoming ceremony at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jirasak Jivawatanawanit)

Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, left, and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, arrive before review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jirasak Jivawatanawanit)

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Military airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Military airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

In this photo released by Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Myanmar's military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, foreground left, arrives in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

In this photo released by Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Myanmar's military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, front left, arrives in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

In this photo released by Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Myanmar's military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, center, arrives in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

In this photo released by Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Myanmar's military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, foreground left, arrives in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday loosened federal rules that require grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment, a step President Donald Trump said would help lower grocery costs.

Trump, at a White House ceremony, said the action by the Environmental Protection Agency would “substantially lower costs for consumers” by delaying costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants U.S. businesses and families can use.

The move to relax the Biden-era rules on harmful pollutants known as HFCs emitted by refrigerators and other appliances was the latest attempt by the Trump administration to try to address rising voter concerns over the cost of living ahead of pivotal elections in November.

It is not clear how much or how quickly the loosening of the refrigerant rule might impact grocery prices. Industry groups said the move could even raise prices because manufacturers have already redesigned products, retooled factories and trained workers to build and service next-generation refrigerant equipment.

Inflation in the United States increased to 3.8% annually in April, amid price spikes caused by the Iran war and President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Inflation is now outpacing wage gains as the war has kept oil and gasoline prices high.

The Biden-era regulation was “unnecessary and costly and actually makes the machinery worse,” Trump said at a ceremony joined by top executives from Kroger, Piggly Wiggly and other grocery chains. The EPA action will protect hundreds of thousands of jobs and save Americans more than $2 billion a year, he said.

The Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, which represents more than 330 HVAC manufacturers and commercial refrigeration companies, said the change in approach would “inject uncertainty across the market” and could even raise prices.

“This rule works against basic supply and demand,” said Stephen Yurek, the group’s president and CEO. “By extending the compliance deadline” for phasing out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, the administration “is maintaining and even increasing demand in the market for existing refrigerants while supply continues to fall.”

Manufacturers have already retooled product lines and certified models based on the existing timeline, Yurek said. Nearly 90% of residential and light commercial air conditioning systems use substitute refrigerants, rather than HFCs, he said.

The administration's action on refrigerants represents a reversal after Trump signed a law in his first term that aimed to reduce harmful, planet-warming pollutants emitted by refrigerators and air conditioners. That bipartisan measure brought environmentalists and major business groups into rare alignment on the contentious issue of climate change and won praise across the political spectrum.

The 2020 law reflected a broad bipartisan consensus on the need to quickly phase out domestic use of HFCs, greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide and are considered a major driver of global warming.

The EPA action highlights the second Trump administration’s drive to roll back regulations perceived as climate friendly. The plan is among a series of sweeping environmental changes that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said will put a “dagger through the heart of climate change religion.”

Environmentalists criticized the administration’s actions, saying the new rule would exacerbate climate pollution while disrupting a yearslong industry transition to new coolants as an alternative to HFCs.

The 2020 law signed by Trump, known as the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, phased out HFCs as part of an international agreement on ozone pollution. The law accelerated an industry shift to alternative refrigerants that use less harmful chemicals and are widely available.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Chemistry Council, the top lobbying group for the chemical industry, were among numerous business groups that supported the law and an international deal on pollutants, known as the Kigali Amendment, as victories for jobs and the environment. U.S. companies such as Chemours and Honeywell developed and produce the alternative refrigerants sold in the United States and around the world.

The 2023 rule now being relaxed imposed steep restrictions on HFCs starting in 2026. Zeldin said the rule from the Democratic Biden administration did not give companies enough time to comply and that the rapid switch to other refrigerants caused shortages and price increases last year. Some in the industry dispute this.

The Food Industry Association, which represents grocery stores and suppliers, applauded the Trump EPA proposal last year, saying the earlier rule “imposed significant and unrealistic compliance timelines.”

Kevin McDaniel, Piggly Wiggly franchise owner, speaks during an event with President Donald Trump about loosening a federal refrigerant rule, in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Kroger CEO Greg Foran speaks speaks during an event with President Donald Trump about loosening a federal refrigerant rule, in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, listens as President Donald Trump speaks during an event about loosening a federal refrigerant rule, in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Donald Trump speaks during an event about loosening a federal refrigerant rule, in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

FILE - A shop owner reaches into a drink display refrigerator at his convenience store in Kent, Wash., Oct. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)