Thailand plans to submit its initial trade proposal to the United States on Friday, according to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Commerce.
Vuttikrai Leewiraphan, who also heads the negotiating team, said on Wednesday that Thailand had held discussions via video conference with counterparts from the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).
The US presented a proposal covering five key topics aimed at fostering balanced trade between the two nations: tariff measures and quotas; non-tariff barriers; digital trade management; rules of origin; and economic and national security.
“The USTR requested that Thailand submit its initial proposal addressing these five areas by this Friday,” Mr Vuttikrai said.
That would leave less than three weeks for the two sides to come to a final agreement. Washington has threatened to impose a 36% tariff rate on imports from Thailand if a reduction cannot be negotiated before a 90-day pause that caps tariffs at a baseline of 10% expires on July 9.
However, Mr Vuttikrai expressed confidence that the discussions and the proposal could yield positive outcomes.
He said previously that Thailand had submitted a one-page framework that suggested a reduction in import tariffs for selected items, plans to purchase Boeing aircraft, plans to purchase weapons, and efforts to ease non-tariff barriers.
“Our proposal … is expected to be good enough for consideration by the US and pave the way for more detailed negotiations in the future,” said Mr Vuttikrai.
“Even if talks cannot be finalised by July 9, I believe the US might offer an extension for negotiations, and I expect that Thailand will secure a maximum tariff rate of 10%.”
The Ministry of Commerce said that the value of Thai exports in May jumped by 18.4% year-on-year to a record $31 billion. The large increase was due mainly to the rush to ship goods to the United States to avoid higher tariffs. The value of shipments to the US rose 35% from a year ago.
For the first five months of the year, exports are up 14.9% to $138.2 billion, while imports have risen by 11.3% to $139.3 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $1.12 billion.
Poj Aramwattananont, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said the value of exports for June is expected to decline.
“We need to see how the US tariffs will progress after the 90-day suspension ends to determine if Thailand can achieve double-digit export growth this year,” he said.