US seeks report from government on trade practices by May 10
The US has asked Thailand and 12 other trade partners – Canada, China, EU, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Switzerland, Taiwan and Vietnam to submit a report on their trade practices by May 10, the trade counsellor at the Thai Embassy in Washington informed the Commerce Ministry on Friday.
The US wants to know about taxation, government subsidies, anti-dumping, intellectual property rights protection, technology transfer, labour rights and law enforcement that are seen as factors contributing to US having trade deficits with these countries.
Both the public and private sectors have been asked to submit the required information via electronic channel following which the US government will hold public hearings on trade barriers on May 18, according to the report.
Previously, US trade representatives had raised concerns about intellectual property rights violations in Thailand as one of the factors affecting imports of US products and services.
The Trump administration has accused some of its trade partners of unfair practices and last month Trump signed two executive orders to investigate trade practices of 16 countries which had trade surplus with the US.