Thailand gets ready for trade with US in Biden era
The Commerce Ministry is getting ready to deal with the United States in the terms of trade under president-elect Joe Biden.
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said on Monday that his ministry and the private sector have closely monitored the presidential elections, given that the US was Thailand’s fourth largest trading partner last year after Asean, China and Japan.
Thailand-US trade stood at Bt1.16 trillion in the first nine months of this year. Thailand’s export to the US stood at Bt790 billion during that period, or 14.7 per cent of total export.
Jurin added that the Biden presidency would ease but not end tensions in the US-China trade war. The US Generalised System of Preferences would also be more generous under Biden, he said.
Jurin said Biden is expected to place importance to trade negotiations via multilateral talks through international bodies such as the World Trade Organisation. The president-elect is also expected to use conditions such as the environment, labour and intellectual property as bargaining chips in trade talks.
He said Thailand will work closely with other Asean members to boost the region’s bargaining power when negotiating with the US. He added that if the US-China trade war eases under Biden, it will also have a benefit on Thailand.
