US Targets Thai Products for Stringent Origin Verification Amid Trade Concerns

[snoop1130]

Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira at the the 2024 Outstanding State Enterprise Award Ceremony | Photo via Royal Government House

 

The United States has earmarked 50 to 60 Thai products for stringent origin verification to curb false origin claims in exports, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira announced. This move aims to prevent the circumvention of trade regulations and misuse of trade privileges granted to Thailand.

 

To address the issue, the Thai government has established three key measures:

 

1. Targeted Inspections: Identify specific products and conduct on-site inspections at the factories producing these goods to ensure compliance.
2. Cost and Origin Evaluation: Assess production costs by scrutinising certificates of origin (C/O) to verify the percentage of domestically sourced materials and adherence to C/O criteria.
3. Centralised Issuance: Designate the Commerce Ministry as the exclusive authority for issuing C/Os, enhancing control and eliminating the current involvement of the Federation of Thai Industries and the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

 

Additionally, Thai officials are investigating whether the US requires product origin verification at the sub-code level for each item to ensure compliance.

 

An anonymous Finance Ministry source highlighted that Thailand's trade surplus with the US has grown significantly over the past few years, potentially due to exports with falsely claimed Thai origin. Reports suggest some Chinese products use Thailand as a production base for re-export, leveraging the Thailand-China free trade agreement that eliminates import tariffs.

 

The Finance Minister's planned trade negotiation visit to Washington on April 23 was postponed at the US's request, as they asked Thailand to review proposed trade measures beforehand.

 

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra stressed the importance of negotiations based on mutual benefit, asserting that every country is significant and Thailand should enter talks with clarity about what each side should offer. "We are not going to accept any offer. That’s not acceptable. Every country matters. We must enter negotiations knowing what we are prepared to offer and what they should offer us," she emphasised.

 

These measures aim to maintain fair trade practices and strengthen the integrity of Thailand's export operations, balancing international relations while protecting its trade interests.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Thaiger 2025-04-28

 

 

[flyingtlger]

 

8 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Reports suggest some Chinese products use Thailand as a production base for re-export, leveraging the Thailand-China free trade agreement that eliminates import tariffs.

 

Gotta watch dem chinese carefully.

They will transship shipments in a blink of an eye to circumvent customs and tariffs...

 

 

[Presnock]

4 minutes ago, flyingtlger said:

 

 

Gotta watch dem chinese carefully.

They will transship shipments in a blink of an eye to circumvent customs and tariffs...

 

 

well, This is not something new - if you bought things in decades past, you might recall that the US had restrictions on Japanese products and to get around that problem at first or for a while I don't remember all about it except Japan just changed the name of the manufacutring plants to

"USA" so the products were stamped "made in USA." but then, the quality of the Japanese products improved until they became more popular and didn't need the fake location.

[dinsdale]

Hang on a minute. Weren't there some posters on here saying how China is winning the trade war. China doesn't need the US market. If this was the case why the relabeling through 2nd countries. BTW Thailand isn't the only one.  

[Presnock]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

Hang on a minute. Weren't there some posters on here saying how China is winning the trade war. China doesn't need the US market. If this was the case why the relabeling through 2nd countries. BTW Thailand isn't the only one.  

I do believe that is all part of the "ZERO-DOLLAR"  business of the Chinese.  If you haven't been paying attention to local complaints from the Chinese-owned stores or rented by Chinese folks then since they negotiated their trade deal with the Chinese, the shops have been inundated with super cheap qualtiy on Chinese merchandise, in many cases copies of Thai-made items.  Same with Chinese tourists, they got vouchers to shop but only at the Chinese controlled shops and therefore weren't spending so much here.. After Thai complants, I guess the Chinese are now going to VN instead so the Thais afe compaining now that Chinese tourists have dropped drastically.  IMHO of course.

[dinsdale]

6 minutes ago, Presnock said:

I do believe that is all part of the "ZERO-DOLLAR"  business of the Chinese. 

No. It's all about evading US tariffs. Same thing is happening in Vietnam. Relabeling Chinese products as Vietnamese then exporting to the US.