Thailand to Boost US Imports Amid Tariff Turmoil

[Lacessit]

As I am not knowingly buying anything made in America, I don't care.

 

The US has no idea of the backlash it is getting.

 

Starbucks, MacDonald's, KFC, Ford, GM all have better quality and cost alternatives. Tesla sales have fallen off a cliff.

[Mavideol]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai government has announced plans to up its imports from the United States, including energy, aircraft, and agricultural goods.

wonder what their master in Beijing will say about that

[impulse]

10 minutes ago, JustinT said:

AI is usually wrong.  I never use it.

 

The Einsteins working for Trump used AI to get their list of countries with a trade deficit to the US.  The AI list mistakenly included the uninhabited Heard and McDonald islands.  Thats how Trump ended up taxing penguins.

 

Not true at all.  He implemented tariffs to prevent some countries that would abuse the zero tariff zones and trans ship goods through those islands to avoid paying any tariffs.

 

[Lacessit]

44 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

 

John Deer Tractors sell well...........

40% of tractors in America are the Kubota brand.

[zig]

57 minutes ago, JustinT said:

 

You have fallen for the orange lunatic's lie that the tariff rate Thailand charges the US is 72%.  They have now admitted that is false, and the tariffs Trump is imposing have nothing to do with the tariff rate Thailand charges the US.

 

Indeed, there was some statistics quoted in Thai media that the actual average tariff rate that Thailand charges on US goods is just 9%. It does not leave much room for negotiation. However, for example, for wine they have many different fees and additional taxes that are applied on top of the the initial tariff. It might mean that the actual average tariff rate is much higher.

[Muhendis]

44 minutes ago, BerndD said:

Made in China?

37 minutes ago, Hawaiian said:

John Deere tractors are manufactured in more than 30 countries, but the majority are made in the U.S.

 

John Deer ceased production last year

 

[impulse]

9 minutes ago, zig said:

Indeed, there was some statistics quoted in Thai media that the actual average tariff rate that Thailand charges on US goods is just 9%. It does not leave much room for negotiation. However, for example, for wine they have many different fees and additional taxes that are applied on top of the the initial tariff. It might mean that the actual average tariff rate is much higher.

 

It's not just tariffs.  It's also IP protection.  Imagine Thailand having to actually pay Adidas, Nike, Apple, etc. even a tiny royalty each time someone buys a (usually fake) branded product.  That would result in $billions remitted to US companies.  Which would go a long way to balancing the trade numbers.

 

Thai companies can protect their trademarks through the courts in the USA.  US companies can't in Thailand.

 

[SingAPorn]

1. The high rate of import duty in Thailand is a scam. Far to high.

 

2. The over inflated rate of the Bhat, same thing. The real value of the Bhat currently should be nothing less then 40 Bhat at least for 1 Euro.

 

3. At the end of the day, we will be thanking the Donald J. Even if I don't appreciate a sort of bully attitude in Trump,  he still seems a chap who is open and with whom one can have a discussion and reach a deal. Unlike the other arrogant Presidents before him in office.

[JustinT]

21 minutes ago, John Drake said:

This feature of the tariffs was explained the other day. According to a Trump spokesman, they were trying to avoid the possibility anywhere on the globe that China especially could engage in a transshipment loophole. So they tariffed everywhere. I don't know how legitimate the argument is, but at least it was an intentional policy decision.

 

That was just a lie.  The list is missing dozens of other territories that could be used as loopholes.  There is no logical reason the particular uninhabited islands were included.

 

The particular uninhabited islands that were included are mistakenly in a database of territories with a trade deficit to the US, thats the only reason.

[Hawaiian]

10 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

 

John Deer ceased production last year

 

John Deere has temporarily shut down it Ottumwa, Ohio plant due to falling sales.  Some production has been shifted to Ramos, Mexico.  Its Augusta, Georgia factory is still operating.

[hotchilli]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The tariff hike by the US has sent shockwaves across Thai export sectors, particularly electronics, processed foods, and agriculture, leading to a formation of a governmental task force.

CP group must be worried, they export so much to the US

[bubblegum]

6 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Australia - Free trade agreement.

USA - 50% tarriff.

You don't pay tariffs when you import beef duh.

[WorriedNoodle]

4 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Anyone with half a brain can work out the obvious action to take: (1) reduce Thai tariffs on US imports down to a sensible level (eg 10%), then (2) negotiate with Uncle Donald to reduce the US tariffs on Thai goods down to the same sensible level.

 

But that might be too hard for the Thai government to work out.

 

Such condescending nonsense. World leaders should not even bother wasting money on a phone call to the USA. Just ignore them until they know how to behave and rescind their tariff nonsense. No one respects a bully nor should they negotiate with one.

[JustinT]

43 minutes ago, impulse said:

Not true at all.  He implemented tariffs to prevent some countries that would abuse the zero tariff zones and trans ship goods through those islands to avoid paying any tariffs.

 

You are just believing another obvious Trump lie.

 

Ask yourself, why those particular islands were included.  They are territories of Australia, so why not include all territories of Australia such as the Coral Sea islands and the Ashmore and Cartier islands?   Makes no sense at all.

 

[Hawaiian]

37 minutes ago, JustinT said:

 

That was just a lie.  The list is missing dozens of other territories that could be used as loopholes.  There is no logical reason the particular uninhabited islands were included.

 

The particular uninhabited islands that were included are mistakenly in a database of territories with a trade deficit to the US, thats the only reason.

Of course it was just a lie.  Their explanation was manufactured after the fact. 

[impulse]

12 minutes ago, JustinT said:

 

You are just believing another obvious Trump lie.

 

Ask yourself, why those particular islands were included.  They are territories of Australia, so why not include all territories of Australia such as the Coral Sea islands and the Ashmore and Cartier islands?   Makes no sense at all.

 

They weren't "mistakenly entered" into a database as having a trade surplus.  They're listed in the USITC HTS code as discrete exporting entities, and have been since long before Trump.

 

Who's being lied to?

 

Here's from the 2011 version:

 

[johnnybangkok]

7 hours ago, hotsun said:

Smarter countries are just dropping their tariffs against the US. Thailand will negotiate their way into a worse position

Ok. One last time for those that are REALLY not getting this despite having it pointed out to them numerous times - it's not about tariffs - it's about trade deficits.

 

Even if Thailand dropped all tariffs on US products tomorrow, that doesn't mean the trade deficit is going to improve. Thai's are not going to simply buy more US products and certainly not to the tune of $45B (the current trade deficit). You need to have a market that wants the product in the first place (big problem) and the product (even without tariffs) still has to be competitively priced against other similar manufacturers who are closer (China for example) and have lower logistic costs.

 

So where are you going to spend all this money (and don't keep saying cars - you need to but a load of cars to make up $45B.) Well Thailand could buy more natural gas from America, but even if Thailand stopped buying all of it's natural gas from other markets and bought it all from America (highly unlikely), this would still only be $11B. That's still $34B to go. You could buy a few fighter jets at between $50- 100M a go, but again, that's an awful lot of fighter jets (over 400). Maybe a few more tractors. Maybe you can buy more copper, Pharmaceutical products, Iron and/or steel or even, electronic equipment (a full list can be seen here - https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/exports/thailand) but it's going to be nigh on impossible for Thailand to make a significant enough dent to 'impress' Trump by buying more American stuff. Yes they may start with removing existing tariffs but that's not what Trump is all about - he wants the US trade deficit down and that can ONLY be done by buying more American products or selling less of your own.

 

So stop with your armchair economics if you think it's because Californian wine has 200% tariffs on it or a Cherokee Jeep is more expensive that a Toyota Landcruiser -  it has very little to do with this and everything to do with either buying more American stuff or relocating factories to the US (another unrealistic desire of Trump.)

P.S. I also find it horrendous that so many people on this forum are cheering for this idiotic move. Do you even live in Thailand? Do you not understand how bad this will be for many Thai companies and therefore the Thai people?   

[Wiggy]

There’s a $36 billion trade deficit with the US. So Thailand is going to need to import quite a bit more than a few aircraft. 

[Screaming]

Well, there you go, President Trump is winning again. Its seems that many countries are now willing to drop their excessive anti-competitive tariffs against the United States now that a U.S. President has the guts to stand up to these countries. President Trump is making American great again.

[CygnusX1]

Not sure if I'm allowed to paste links here, but if you search the web for "Milton Friedman on tariffs" you'll find a beautifully clear explanation of the utter idiocy of Trump's trade war.

[Golden Triangle]

I really feel sorry for the Americans, fancy having an idiot as supreme leader 55555

[Hawaiian]

10 minutes ago, Screaming said:

Well, there you go, President Trump is winning again. Its seems that many countries are now willing to drop their excessive anti-competitive tariffs against the United States now that a U.S. President has the guts to stand up to these countries. President Trump is making American great again.

I don't need to be great, just comfortable in my old age.  I've lived a good  without greatness.

[John Drake]

Might be a good time to import American engineers and architectural firms to oversee and partner with large infrastructure projects. The Chinese ones don't seem to be working out all that well.

[PETERTHEEATER]

How many pasengers with First Class seats booked for a flight to Washington next week will be receiving an email from Thai Airways cancelling their booking citing 'unforseen circumstances'?😀

[Dogmatix]

5 hours ago, Callmeishmael said:

The Thai Air Force will probably order a dozen of those useless F35s to even up the trade imbalance!

 

The US rejected Thailand's order for F35s, as it is considered an unreliable ally and the RTAF is planning to buy Grippens from Sweden instead.  They can switch the order to F16s with the US kill switch in them and outmoded weapons systems like the ones offered to Egypt, so they wouldn't be too great a threat to Israel.  But Egypt decided those were useless and cancelled the order in favour of Chinese fighter jets with all mod cons included. There is all no corruption money for Thai politicians on US arms.  Buying from the US no longer makes sense for any ally except Israel which gets preferential treatment with the latest versions and never has to pay for the sales, which is why it has a trade surplus with the US in spite of the US's massive "sales" of weapons to Israel. Even Canada and Portugal which are allowed to buy F35s with kill switch installed are cancelling their orders. 

 

Thailand can import the chlorinated chicken that Trump ordered the UK to buy, even though it is more expensive than British chicken and the  need for chlorination reflects the insanitary condition of US chicken processing.  If Thais like chlorinated chicken, they will also enjoy the 150,000 tons of US grossly hormone fed beef that was just rejected and sent back by China for food safety reasons.  Then there is GMO soy beans, wheat and rice.  Trump actually complained that Asian countries refuse to import US rice.  I wonder why.  Thais should man up and buy US Uncle Ben's rice at vast expense for the good of the country.  Thailand should also reduce 400% or so tax on completely built up vehicles and import lots of monster gas guzzling petrol driven pick-ups assembled in the US from Asian parts despite its own auto assembly business suffering.  Locally assembled trucks will be more expensive due to the local excise and other taxes on them.   Then there is also US wine, beer and liquor that could be made very competitive in Thailand without any taxes applied to them.  Since cannabis is legal Ung Ing should also import loads of weed from California.  Give daddy a blast and get him high enough to forget his killjoy approach to dopers.  He might make better decisions, if kept stoned and stop coming up with ludicrous ideas like free handouts that have done nothing to stimulate growth. 

 

Yesterday Trump's trade advisor, the moronic Peter Navarro said the EU has got to give up its VAT taxation which, to Navarro, is a non-tariff barrier (or cheating in his words).  So Ung Ing will have to ditch VAT or exempt US products from it, so they will have an advantage over domestic producers. 

 

It all looks pretty hopeless for Thailand.  How can they negotiate with madmen making totally outrageous demands?  Rather than groveling in this way, it would be better to stand up to a bully and join hands with ASEAN to retaliate.  Navarro has already announced that reducing tarrifs to zero won't cut it.  So what can they offer anyway?

[Spilornis]

1 hour ago, johnnybangkok said:

Ok. One last time for those that are REALLY not getting this despite having it pointed out to them numerous times - it's not about tariffs - it's about trade deficits.

Agree

Vietnam offered to drop all tariffs on US goods and were immediately told US wants a lot more

[Dogmatix]

42 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

How many pasengers with First Class seats booked for a flight to Washington next week will be receiving an email from Thai Airways cancelling their booking citing 'unforseen circumstances'?😀

 

THAI was banned from flying to the US in 2015 due to its failure to comply with US safety standards.  Are they flying there again now?

[Dogmatix]

6 minutes ago, Spilornis said:

Agree

Vietnam offered to drop all tariffs on US goods and were immediately told US wants a lot more

 Yes, it is ridiculous.  Trump is not terribly bright and doesn't understand economics and the people around him, except for those like Navarro who are as unhinged as he is, are playing an Emperor's New Clothes pantomime just to hold on to power and make money from using their inside knowledge of the next mad announcement to short markets.  Goods are imported from countries that can produce them at the low prices that American consumers are willing to pay.  It is not the producing countries fault that they are able to satisfy US commercial demands. 

[Reddavy]

7 hours ago, KireB said:

Could this be the dumbest post of the day?

Yes 🤷🏼

[realfunster]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

 

This feature of the tariffs was explained the other day. According to a Trump spokesman, they were trying to avoid the possibility anywhere on the globe that China especially could engage in a transshipment loophole. So they tariffed everywhere. I don't know how legitimate the argument is, but at least it was an intentional policy decision.

 

That's true enough - I think it's well known that China has tried to circumvent previous US tariffs.

Still, it doesn't make the numbers on the placards waved around by Donald anywhere near accurate. 

I guess it's the "shock & awe" approach to negotiations !