Thai steel pipes have been granted an exemption from the US's 25% steel import tariff, the Commerce Ministry says.
Wanchai Varavithya, deputy director-general of the Commerce Ministry's Foreign Trade Department, said the US Department of Commerce recently granted Thai steel pipe exporters an exemption from the tariff, but only on a shipment basis.
"Although the US Department of Commerce has yet to grant a waiver on import tariffs for all shipments from Thailand, exporters can ask for an exemption for each shipment. This is good news for Thailand," Mr Wanchai said.
"We're hopeful that Washington will soon announce a permanent exemption of import tariffs on steel and aluminium from Thailand."
US President Donald Trump on March 23 imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminium but granted temporary exemptions to Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the EU, Australia and Argentina.
The US president has also granted a permanent exemption from steel tariffs to South Korea as part of revisions to a free-trade pact that he has sharply criticised.
Mr Trump has invoked a 1962 trade law to erect protections for US steel and aluminium producers on national security grounds amid a worldwide glut of both metals that is largely blamed on excess production from China.
The tariffs, which have increased friction with US trade partners worldwide and prompted several challenges before the World Trade Organization, are aimed at allowing the two US metals industries to raise their capacity utilisation rates above 80% for the first time in years.
In a bid to curb the harm from the higher US tariffs, Thailand, through its Commerce Ministry, has since April requested a number of trade privileges aimed at helping Thai exporters compete in both the US and global markets, using the vehicle of the Thailand-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement meeting in Washington DC.
Thailand cited a number of reasons why it should be excluded from the tariffs, including the fact that it holds a very small steel and aluminium market share in the US.
A study by the Iron and Steel Institute of Thailand estimated that the country would lose 383,496 tonnes or 10.47 billion baht worth of steel exports (notably for steel pipe, cold-rolled steel and galvanised steel sheet) as a direct consequence of the US tariffs.
For indirect impacts, the institute said Thailand is likely to encounter a flood of foreign steel, as the US tariffs are expected to redirect 27.03 million tonnes of steel into Asean markets.
Products likely to be dumped onto the Thai market include steel rod, tin- and chromium-coated steel sheet, galvanised steel sheet and tin plate, which have no trade barriers here.