Thailand’s revised tariff proposal already sent to the US - Finance minister

Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said today that the Thai government submitted a revised trade proposal to the US administration on Sunday night.

He maintains, however, that the new proposal is based on the principles stated in the first, which was withdrawn for review after the Thai trade delegation had received more feedback from its US counterpart during the tariff talks last week in Washington DC.

In addition to the tariff issue, he said that the US trade delegation is exploring non-tariff issues with Thailand as well.

Asked whether he expects Thai products to the US market to be subject to an 18% reciprocal tariff, Pichai said that only a small number of countries has managed to strike deals with the US and he expects that the August 1st deadline for tariff talks to be further extended.

The finance minister declined to say whether Thailand will follow Vietnam’s example, by agreeing to impose zero tariffs on imports from the US in exchange for a favourable reciprocal tariff rate from the US for its exports to the US.

He did say, however, that Thailand will continue to hold tariff talks with the US and to accommodate their wishes by agreeing to increase imports of US-made products, while taking care of Thai manufacturers at home.

Regarding goods which originate in other countries, but are declared as Thai-made for export to the US, Pichai said that Thailand has tried to resolve this problem and is ready to cooperate with the US in addressing the issue.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg quoted Pichai as saying that, if Thailand’s revised proposal is accepted by the US, Thailand will respond in kind by exempting or slashing tariffs on several US imports, lifting non-tariff restrictions on some US imports and allowing more access to the Thai market for US products, which are in demand locally, but should not affect Thai farming sector.

Pichai has made clear that a 10-20% tariff imposed by the US administration would be acceptable adding, however, that the worst case for Thailand would be for the tariff rate to be much higher than those imposed on regional competitors, Vietnam in particular.