Thailand ready to join world’s largest free trade agreement on Sunday

[webfact]

Thailand ready to join world’s largest free trade agreement on Sunday

By THE NATION

 

Jurin Laksanawisit

 

Thailand is set to sign the world’s biggest free trade agreement at the 37th Asean Summit this week, the Commerce Ministry confirmed on Thursday.

 

Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit is scheduled to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on Sunday (November 15) at a virtual meeting of Asean countries and their partners.

 

The RCEP will cover all 10 Asean member states plus five partners: China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. India withdrew from the deal last year.

 

The RCEP will take effect from the middle of 2021 if at least six Asean members and three partners agree to its terms. The Thai Cabinet will consider the final agreement before it is sent to Parliament for final approval.

 

The largest free trade agreement will encompass almost 3.6 billion people (48.1 per cent of world population), with a combined GDP of more than $28.5 trillion (32.7 per cent of world GDP) and total trade value of over $11.2 trillion (29.5 per cent of world trade).

 

The deal will ease trade between members by reducing or scrapping tariffs, strengthening supply chains with common rules, and forging new e-commerce rules.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30397849

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-11-13

 

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[Chelseafan]

...with a combined GDP of more than $28.5 trillion

 

And one country has 50% of that. Guess which one.

 

 

[pegman]

This will help keep the peace in the west Pacific. India will continue to fall behind. 

[pegman]

10 minutes ago, Chelseafan said:

...with a combined GDP of more than $28.5 trillion

 

And one country has 50% of that. Guess which one.

 

 

Ah, the one with nearly 1/2 the population.

[Chelseafan]

2 minutes ago, pegman said:

Ah, the one with nearly 1/2 the population.

 

That's the one....

[mark131v]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The RCEP will take effect from the middle of 2021 if at least six Asean members and three partners agree to its terms.

 

So actually nothing arranged and Thailand has minimal say in the matter, <deleted>...

Edited November 13, 2020 by metisdead
Profane acronym removed.

[yellowboat]

Thailand loves import duties.   This is lips service of the highest magnitude.  The will join, but they will not allow access to the Thai market without crazy high tariffs..

[ChrisY1]

4 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

Thailand loves import duties.   This is lips service of the highest magnitude.  The will join, but they will not allow access to the Thai market without crazy high tariffs..

There should zero, or minimal import duty under FTAs....I've bought goods from China free of duty...

[smutcakes]

Most of those countries are not going to scrap tariffs and trade barriers, they all have industries which they want to protect.

This will go the same way as the much vaunted AEC which after years of bluster about trade simply started and no one reduced barriers and within a month its never been mentioned again. (Think of the money wasted on that)

 

[Kwasaki]

Oh !!  dear another EU like set up. ????

[madmitch]

33 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Oh !!  dear another EU like set up. ????

Nothing like it!

[Misterwhisper]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The deal will ease trade between members by reducing or scrapping tariffs

 

Does that also apply for the Thai side? Or is it a one-way street as per usual?

 

Well, we'll soon find out whether Australian wines or New Zealand lamb are going to become any cheaper or actually increase in price.

 

My guess is the only price drops we are going to see will be for substandard goods from - as several other posters noted - "the country that contributes half the population and half the combined GDP" to that "world's largest FTA".

 

But then again, the deal appears far from being concluded, as "the agreement of at least 3 partners (out of 5) and 6 ASEAN members (out of 10)" is still needed for it to become effective.

 

Guess which one of the partner countries has already agreed? That's right, the one that contributes "half the population and half the combined GDP" to that dream deal. No surprise there.

 

[Paul Henry]

Free Trade Agreement. Always some knockers. Well at least Trump wants to go it alone and has no idea how tariffs work.

[asiasurfer]

Cool. Does that mean that wine and other booze will get cheaper? 

[thedemon]

6 minutes ago, asiasurfer said:

Cool. Does that mean that wine and other booze will get cheaper? 

 

Unfortunately no. Australian and New Zealand wine is already free of import duty under existing FTA's. It is the way Thai excise tax is structured (combined with various non-tariff barriers) that has allowed Thailand to continue protecting big liquor while keeping wine prohibitively expensive.

[John Drake]

2 minutes ago, thedemon said:

 

Unfortunately no. Australian and New Zealand wine is already free of import duty under existing FTA's. It is the way Thai excise tax is structured (combined with various non-tariff barriers) that has allowed Thailand to continue protecting big liquor while keeping wine prohibitively expensive.

 

Well, with this new FTA, perhaps NZ and Australia can take it their complaint to whatever neutral arbitrator the organization will set up. Probably located in Beijing and sure give the round eyes equal treatment with its SE Asian "brothers."

[Misterwhisper]

6 minutes ago, thedemon said:

 

Unfortunately no. Australian and New Zealand wine is already free of import duty under existing FTA's. It is the way Thai excise tax is structured (combined with various non-tariff barriers) that has allowed Thailand to continue protecting big liquor while keeping wine prohibitively expensive.

That's very interesting. I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.

 

So, basically, while no import duties are levied the Thais still find ways of pricing Australian wines out of reach for most consumers so the 2 quasi-monopolistic local booze producers can peddle their paint thinner.  

[AmySeeker]

United States of China

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The RCEP will cover all 10 Asean member states plus five partners: China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. India withdrew from the deal last year.

I hope the subject of "luxury taxes" will be mentioned before the signing.

 

[George Aylesham]

1 hour ago, thedemon said:

 

Unfortunately no. Australian and New Zealand wine is already free of import duty under existing FTA's. It is the way Thai excise tax is structured (combined with various non-tariff barriers) that has allowed Thailand to continue protecting big liquor while keeping wine prohibitively expensive.

And one of the perverse consequences of this fta is the Thai wine producers pay more tax on wine than the Australians.

[Andrew65]

4 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Thailand loves import duties.   This is lips service of the highest magnitude.  The will join, but they will not allow access to the Thai market without crazy high tariffs..

Exactly what I was thinking. Are the Thais gonna get rid of import duties like the 300% on luxury cars, on duties on things like wine & cheese?

I think one of the conditions of joining the WTO is that imported items aren't taxed more.

[spidermike007]

And Thailand will break whatever agreement it signs, within months. Several years ago, all ASEAN members signed onto an agreement, that allowed the duty free importation and exportation of all alcoholic beverages, across all ASEAN borders. How many bottles of Bintang have you seen in the supermarket lately? It appears no sooner than it was signed, the senators were accepting massive cash payoffs from Chang, SIngha, etc, etc. Ugly behavior. They used to be the tiger in the group. No longer. Indonesia blows them away, economically now. And Malaysia is not far behind. 

[Caldera]

Smothered by the PRC.

 

[digger70]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand ready to join world’s largest free trade agreement on Sunday

Yea Right, Pull the Other One

 

The Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) is one of two FTAs that Australian businesses can use to trade with Thailand. ... TAFTA also improves the environment for bilateral services trade and investment. The agreement entered into force on 1 January 2005 and was Australia's third free trade agreement.Aug 16, 2016   

 

The Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) came into effect on 1 January 2005. This Agreement ensures greater access to the Thai market for Australian products, enhances prospects for services trade and investment, improves the regulatory and investment environment and promotes increased business mobility  Under TAFTA, Thailand has agreed to relax a number of its restrictive conditions relating to visas and work permits and to guarantee non-discriminatory treatment of Australian investments in Thailand. TAFTA will eventually lead to the complete elimination of Thailand’s significant tariffs across all sectors. When the Agreement took effect more than half of Thailand’s 5000 tariffs – accounting for nearly 80 per cent of Australian exports - were eliminated.Tariffs that were not immediately eliminated will be phased down, with 95 per cent of all current trade between Australia and Thailand completely tariff free by 2010. In some cases, these tariffs had been up to 200 per cent.

 

TAFTA has allowed many Australian companies formerly locked out of the Thai market because of high tariffs and quotas to find new export opportunities, particularly in areas such as agriculture, processed food and beverages, mining and automotive products.

Please visit the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website for comprehensive information on the TAFTA

[Andrew65]

3 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

That's very interesting. I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.

 

So, basically, while no import duties are levied the Thais still find ways of pricing Australian wines out of reach for most consumers so the 2 quasi-monopolistic local booze producers can peddle their paint thinner.  

I really miss the days when I used to get Hardy's or Penfold's wines 2 for the price of 1 at Villa Market, probably 15 years ago. 

[vandeventer]

So will that make the cheap Chinese motorcycles even cheaper? We want the road toll to go down not up.

[Kwasaki]

Sensible of India. ????

[Grumpy one]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand ready to join world’s largest free trade agreement on Sunday

By THE NATION

 

Jurin Laksanawisit

 

Thailand is set to sign the world’s biggest free trade agreement at the 37th Asean Summit this week, the Commerce Ministry confirmed on Thursday.

 

Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit is scheduled to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on Sunday (November 15) at a virtual meeting of Asean countries and their partners.

 

The RCEP will cover all 10 Asean member states plus five partners: China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. India withdrew from the deal last year.

 

The RCEP will take effect from the middle of 2021 if at least six Asean members and three partners agree to its terms. The Thai Cabinet will consider the final agreement before it is sent to Parliament for final approval.

 

The largest free trade agreement will encompass almost 3.6 billion people (48.1 per cent of world population), with a combined GDP of more than $28.5 trillion (32.7 per cent of world GDP) and total trade value of over $11.2 trillion (29.5 per cent of world trade).

 

The deal will ease trade between members by reducing or scrapping tariffs, strengthening supply chains with common rules, and forging new e-commerce rules.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30397849

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-11-13

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Does this mean Beer Lao and Myanmar beer will be available at a decent price