EU negotiates free trade agreement with Thailand

[webfact]

 

by Miabell Mallikka

Negotiations on a free trade agreement between EU and Thailand are to be resumed, after almost ten years.

 

“I warmly welcome the restart of our negotiations on a trade agreement with Thailand.

 

A modern and dynamic agreement will lead to benefits for both sides and strengthen the EU’s trade contacts with the region,” writes the European Commission’s executive vice-president, Valdis Dombrovskis, in a press release.

 

Full story: https://scandasia.com/eu-negotiates-free-trade-agreement-with-thailand/

 

-- © Copyright ScandAsia 2023-03-16

 

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[ukrules]

The headline got my attention 'EU negotiates free trade agreement with Thailand' - reads lke they have completed it but no, they're just starting negotiations.

 

Here's how I think it will proceed :

 

The list of demands which will be many and varied with plenty of them political in nature and will be unrelated to trade but restrictions on what Thailand can and can't do both at home and internationally will be delivered.

Thailand will tell them where to stick their list of demands and that will be the end of it for another 10 years.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Negotiations on a free trade agreement between EU and Thailand are to be resumed, after almost ten years.

Does that mean the "luxury tax" heaped onto imported goods will be dropped in future when the agreement is implemented?

Edited March 15, 2023 by hotchilli

[zzaa09]

How about a real free market before we consider this free trade agreement [whatever that is] 

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

The headline got my attention 'EU negotiates free trade agreement with Thailand' - reads lke they have completed it but no, they're just starting negotiations.

 

Here's how I think it will proceed :

 

The list of demands which will be many and varied with plenty of them political in nature and will be unrelated to trade but restrictions on what Thailand can and can't do both at home and internationally will be delivered.

Thailand will tell them where to stick their list of demands and that will be the end of it for another 10 years.

If they get onto the sticky subject of sausages the negotiations will go nowhere!

[zzaa09]

31 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

If they get onto the sticky subject of sausages the negotiations will go nowhere!

Personally, I give an edge to the Chiang Mai variety over the Isaan type. 

[ChrisY1]

An FTA" will never eventuate while Thailand continues with the exorbitant import tax rates. How can any business compete with duties up to and above 105% on so many goods?

Edited March 16, 2023 by ChrisY1

[Henryford]

Does that mean the 300% tax on wine will be abolished? thought not.

[KhunLA]

NO THANKS ... FTA will make things more expensive.   Besides, there is nothing I want or need from EU.   Or the USA, for that matter.

 

FTA = more rules & regulations

 

BRICS & ASEAN rock ????

[wolf81]

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

The headline got my attention 'EU negotiates free trade agreement with Thailand' - reads lke they have completed it but no, they're just starting negotiations.

 

Here's how I think it will proceed :

 

The list of demands which will be many and varied with plenty of them political in nature and will be unrelated to trade but restrictions on what Thailand can and can't do both at home and internationally will be delivered.

Thailand will tell them where to stick their list of demands and that will be the end of it for another 10 years.

To be honest, I kinda hope so. I am originally from The Netherlands and I despise the EU. Want as little to do with them as possible.

 

I suspect EU (Germany) would very much like to sell car brands like Mercedes and BMW in Thailand without the huge import duty, to increase sales. Because it seems it's harder to grow sales in EU now: https://tradingeconomics.com/european-union/car-registrations

 

This would likely be one of the main points of negotiation, since the car industry is of huge importance to Germany.

Edited March 16, 2023 by wolf81

[bangon04]

Lucky that the EU is an institution with such high principles. It deserves the utmost respect from all Juntas in the world.

[realfunster]

2 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

An FTA" will never eventuate while Thailand continues with the exorbitant import tax rates. How can any business compete with duties up to and above 105% on so many goods?

Maybe I am misunderstanding your comment, but isn't that one of the objectives of any FTA - to reduce the import duties ?

[JackGats]

If it means I can buy yogourt and cheese at twice, instead of five times the EU price, I'm all for it.

[realfunster]

27 minutes ago, bangon04 said:

Lucky that the EU is an institution with such high principles. It deserves the utmost respect from all Juntas in the world.

Objectively, you could quite rightly say that it has been a wasted 10 years, with the EU taking the moral high ground at some stage and now changing their position whilst nothing, zero, nil has changed of substance in Thailand. So, pretty much a lost decade of negotiations for no reason...

 

The timing is interesting with the elections coming up and what may be a convoluted power-broking process after the results are in. Further political upheaval and potential unrest is not impossible. At which stage, the EU might then be forced to suspend negotiations yet again...

 

The UK has had no such qualms (I offer no opinion on this..) and has been continuing with it's own negotiations in various trade areas, that might have provoked the EU into reviewing their position. They may have also sensed a slight attitude change from the Thai side, as in other areas, with a generally unimpressive economy and rebound post-COVID, they do now seem quite keen on exploring new economic growth opportunities. 

 

Anyhow, sure we will all be delighted when we are finally able to buy sensibly priced french cheese in 2034.

[Bangkok Barry]

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Does that mean the "luxury tax" heaped onto imported goods will be dropped in future when the agreement is implemented?

Thailand only operates trade agreements in one direction, to benefit Thailand. Isn't there supposed to be free trade between ASEAN countries, yet Thailand still imposes huge taxes on imports from Laos and Vietnam, and probably elsewhere. One example is Beer Lao, where I have to pay around 74 baht for a small bottle of their IPA whereas a Thai beer is one half to third of that. A large bottle of regular Beer Lao is 93, Leo around half of that. And let's not get started about tax on wine which could be imported from Laos where it costs a fraction of what it does in Thailand.

[KhunLA]

10 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

One example is Beer Lao, where I have to pay around 74 baht for a small bottle of their IPA whereas a Thai beer is one half to third of that. A large bottle of regular Beer Lao is 93, Leo around half of that. And let's not get started about tax on wine which could be imported from Laos where it costs a fraction of what it does in Thailand.

Is that a tax, or just price gouging ?   Though suspect a tax also, as imported TH craft beer is silly priced.   Big 2 controlling the market.

 

At least my liver is happy ????

Edited March 16, 2023 by KhunLA

[ChaiyaTH]

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

NO THANKS ... FTA will make things more expensive.   Besides, there is nothing I want or need from EU.   Or the USA, for that matter.

 

FTA = more rules & regulations

 

BRICS & ASEAN rock ????

You are aware that Vietnam has the FTA with EU already? They are ASEAN too.

[Bangkok Barry]

16 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Is that a tax, or just price gouging ?   Though suspect a tax also, as imported TH craft beer is silly priced.   Big 2 controlling the market.

 

At least my liver is happy ????

TH beer having to be brewed outside of TH, and then heavily taxed as it (Thai beer not brewed by the monopolies) is imported into TH. So yes, the big two controlling the market by dictating to the government what it can and can't do. It is no coincidence that two of the richest men in Thailand own the breweries.

[sammieuk1]

I would settle for just something different and nice to buy at any price in the clone supermarkets here ???? 

[Drumbuie]

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Does that mean the "luxury tax" heaped onto imported goods will be dropped in future when the agreement is implemented?

Generally a free trade agreement means that both parties agree to drop tariffs on goods imported and exported between them. 

 

The EU is Thailand's fourth largest trading partner but Thailand is the EU's 26th largest trading partner.

Full details can be found, if you're interested in facts rather than  speculation, on the Europa website https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_1628

[Enzian]

3 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

An FTA" will never eventuate while Thailand continues with the exorbitant import tax rates.

I have a thing for high end whiskey and whisky but I've stopped buying it here. I just buy the lower cost blends and mix them because I refuse to continue funding this crowd.

[KhunLA]

3 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

You are aware that Vietnam has the FTA with EU already? They are ASEAN too.

Free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EU ... that's about as irrelevant to my life as you can get ????

[zzaa09]

7 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

I would settle for just something different and nice to buy at any price in the clone supermarkets here ???? 

As opposed to the replicant supermarkets of the West that serve the expected market. 

You'll be remembering that Western-style supermarkets here were originally placed serve a niche foreign market - some circle of Thais have just been conditioned to this style of shopping and why most from this type of marketeering stock "local" goods, less foreign specialty and overpriced goods [that Thais don't want or buy].

 

Most Thais still are content with their local markets as they have been for ages.