Thailand’s revised proposal to lower import tariffs on thousands of US products is expected to be favorably received by the United States, according to Finance Permanent Secretary Lavaron Sangsnit.
On Tuesday, Mr. Lavaron indicated that Thailand had submitted an updated proposal to the US Trade Representative (USTR), although it’s possible the White House has not yet reviewed it. He expressed confidence that once US authorities examine the new, significantly altered proposal, they will find it satisfactory.
Additionally, the Finance Ministry is actively preparing to mitigate the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff measures. A contingency fund of 10 billion baht has been set aside within the economic stimulus budget to address potential effects, with an additional 40 billion baht remaining available for this purpose.
Mr. Lavaron forecasted that the US is likely to impose lower tariffs on Thai exports compared to Vietnamese goods. Thailand still has time to negotiate following its proposal to drastically reduce tariffs on numerous US imports. He emphasized that Thailand’s plan includes reducing tariffs on products such as soybeans, noting that Thai farmers are unlikely to be harmed due to high domestic demand and that imports will be managed through a quota system.
The government believes it still has the opportunity to negotiate with the US before the August 1 deadline. He cautioned against rushing negotiations, as Vietnam already agreed to eliminate all tariffs and Thailand hopes for a more favorable outcome.
Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira shared that his recent visit to the US aimed at discussing tax issues was fruitful, and the US requested a revised proposal from Thailand, which was submitted on July 6. While the US announced a reciprocal tariff rate of 36% on Thailand on July 7, Mr. Pichai suggested that the latest proposal is still under review.
He explained that the US has two working groups in these negotiations: one for policy discussions and one for technical analysis. The technical team has reviewed all of Thailand’s data and needs additional time to thoroughly analyze the proposal before passing it to the policy group for decision-making.
Finally, Mr. Pichai noted that the postponement of reciprocal tariff implementation from July 9 to August 1 is a positive sign, providing more time for negotiations.
