We prove, for a sufficiently small subset $\mathcal{A}$ of a prime residue field, an estimate on the number of solutions to the equation $(a_1-a_2)(a_3-a_4) = (a_5-a_6)(a_7-a_8)$ with all variables in $\mathcal{A}$. We then derive new bounds on trilinear exponential sums and on the total number of residues equaling the product of two differences of elements of $\mathcal{A}$. We also prove a refined estimate on the number of collinear triples in a Cartesian product of multiplicative subgroups and derive stronger bounds for trilinear sums with all variables in multiplicative subgroups.