Bangkok: The Prime Minister issued a statement on Thailand's position towards US trade policy after "Trump" announced a 36% import tax adjustment, preparing to adjust the trade balance to be fair to both parties. He pointed out that in the long term, Thai exporters should look for new markets with potential to reduce the risk of relying on a single market. He emphasized that the government has put in place measures to support and alleviate the impact.
According to Thai News Agency, Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister, issued a statement on Thailand's stance on US trade policy, stating that the Thai government is aware and understands the necessity for the United States to adjust trade balance with many trading partners through the policy of reciprocal trade and tariffs, which has affected countries that are US trading partners, while President Trump's framework and strategy are dynamic and completely different from the previous era.
Recently, President Trump announced the policy at the Liberation Day event on April 3, 2025 at 04.00 (Thailand time), announcing a minimum of 10 percent tariff on imports from all countries that have a trade surplus with the United States and the United States sees as taking advantage of the United States. Import tariffs, non-tariff trade measures, including various fees will be collected, with each country being adjusted at a different rate. For Thailand, the United States has set a reciprocal import tariff rate of 36 percent, effective from April 9, 2025 onwards.
The announcement of the increase in import tariffs by the US government will inevitably affect all trading partners, especially the purchasing power of US consumers who may not be able to cope with the rapid and high increase in product prices. Therefore, in the long term, Thai exporters should look for new markets with potential to reduce the risk of relying on a single market. The Thai government has recognized the importance of this issue and has put in place measures to support, remedy and alleviate the impacts that may occur to Thai exporters whose main market is the US.
The government would like to inform that Thailand has signaled its readiness to discuss with the US government at the first opportunity to adjust the trade balance to be fair to both parties, with the least impact on the relevant sectors. It has assigned the US Trade Policy Working Group, which was established on January 6, 2025, before President Trump officially took office, to work with the public and private sectors to closely and comprehensively monitor and assess the situation over a period of 3 months in order to prepare a 'proposal to adjust the trade balance with the US that is substantial enough to give the US an incentive to enter the negotiation process with Thailand' that is appropriate and has the least impact on farmers, consumers, and entrepreneurs in the relevant sectors. At the same time, Thailand may also use this opportunity to adjust its production structure, reduce costs, and increase the long-term competitiveness of some industries.
Thailand has a firm intention to create stability and balance in trade with the United States in the long term. It has sufficient potential to be one of the Friend Shoring countries in which both countries can develop cooperation in industries with potential to support each other for sustainable growth in the global market, such as in the agricultural and food sector, where the United States has a large number of agricultural products that Thailand can import to process and export to the world market. In the high-tech industry, Thailand is a major producer of Hard Disk Drives in the world, and such equipment is necessary for the development of the Data Center and AI industries in the United States.
Finally, the Thai government sincerely hopes that the US government under President Trump's leadership will look to the goal of creating long-term shared economic security. Thailand still affirms its intention to be an ally and is committed to pushing for cooperation in an economic partnership to jointly create and develop the agricultural sector and future technology industries for the global market to grow steadily. Ultimately, it will help reduce the impacts that will occur to the business and agricultural sectors of both countries through constructive discussions as soon as possible.