Thailand is making a last-ditch effort to avert a punitive 36 per cent export levy threatened by Washington with offers of greater market access for US farm and industrial goods, along with increased purchases of energy and Boeing jets.
Bangkok’s latest proposal aimed to boost bilateral trade volume and reduce Thailand’s US$46 billion trade surplus with the United States by 70 per cent within five years, reaching balance in seven to eight years, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said in an interview late on Sunday. That is quicker than the pledge to wipe the gap in a decade under an earlier proposal submitted by Thailand.
The revised proposal was submitted on Sunday night, Pichai announced on Monday, just days before the Wednesday deadline for the 90-day tariff pause announced by US President Donald Trump. If accepted, Thailand could immediately waive import tariffs or non-tariff barriers for a majority of the products, while phasing out restrictions more gradually for a smaller set of goods, he said.
Thai Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira at Government House in Bangkok on May 7. Photo: Reuters
The revisions followed Pichai’s meeting on Thursday with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Deputy Secretary of Treasury Michael Faulkender in the first ministerial-level tariff talks. As many of the US products that would gain greater access to the Thai market are in short supply locally, they are unlikely to hurt local farmers or producers, Pichai said.
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“What we’re offering them is a mutually beneficial proposal,” Pichai said. “The US can trade more with us and we get the chance to clean up our process and cut red tapes.”
Thailand is one of several countries racing to finalise a deal with the US and avoid steep tariffs. Failure to secure a reduced tariff with its largest export market could result in a sharp decline in merchandise shipments and shave as much as 1 percentage point off Thailand’s projected economic growth.
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Neighbouring Vietnam secured a deal last week, with Trump announcing a 20 per cent tariff on its exports and a 40 per cent rate on goods deemed to be transshipped.
