Suphajee Pushes US–China Talks to Narrow Trade Gaps, Open New Markets
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Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Suphajee Suthumpun said Thailand is pressing ahead with trade negotiations with the United States and China in line with the trade structure of each market, while also expanding opportunities in the European Union and India to spread the risk of relying on its main markets. The US and China together account for roughly one-third of Thai exports, but Thailand runs a trade surplus with the US while still running a deficit with China, so it must use negotiating approaches suited to each market's structure. For China, Thailand's second-largest export market and largest source of imports, more than 80% of Thai imports are raw materials and capital goods, so Thailand has set up a Joint Trade Committee working group to restructure the supply chain, and has proposed that China invest in food processing and in the pharmaceutical and herbal industries for public health and healthcare, while asking China to open up more to goods from Thai SME operators. On the US side, Thailand's trade surplus has grown to the point that it ranked fifth over the past half year, prompting the US to tighten trade measures, including those under Section 301; detailed discussions have made progress and a conclusion is expected soon. As for the European Union, which accounts for about 7–8% of Thai exports, the 10th round of free trade agreement talks is under way in Phuket, with the aim of making it the final round to close the remaining one-third of the chapters. For India, Thailand runs a trade surplus of as much as 10 billion US dollars, and Suphajee said the US side has informed her that the findings of its Section 301 investigation into structural overcapacity are expected to be announced in October.