3 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

The Thais want to get the same deal as Vietnam... and Vietnam basically dropped all tariffs on US goods to zero, agreed to 40% on any goods deemed to be from elsewhere by the US at 40%, and still 20% on all Vietnamese goods. Thailand is going to have to take a deep breath and swallow hard to emulate that... and Thailand is nowhere near as strategicly important to the US as Vietnam is.

 

What's the betting that, if Thailand dropped US import tariffs to 0%, we would see no change in prices in the shops.

Remember what Trump's trade war is about.

• Mostly it is where any nation is buying less in product value from the US than US is buying from foreign nations. Trump calls the difference in that situation a "trade deficient" that cheats the US economically. So what Trump expects is every nation that trades with the US will negotiate to buy more product value from the US than it is selling to the US. 
• It is about the opposite of Trump's identified trade deficit wherein a nation is actually buying less from the US than selling to the US, ie., Singapore.
• Trump appears to be unaware (never mentioned by his senior trade advisors) that the value of trade includes BOTH product value and services value. Trump only focuses on product value.

Essentially success with a trade deal with Trump requires essentially for a nation to concede its sovereignty to the US - to bypass a nation's laws and consumer protections. This consequence has been frequently referred to and opposed by Canada and a main issue with EU.

Trump's does not want trade parity (zero net trade imports vs exports). The approach that Vietnam is taking amounts to suppressing its sovereignty by offering Trump private branding of land developments that Vietnam as a communist country would not otherwise allow, albeit Vietnam has little economy to afford a net loss in trade value of products between the US and Vietnam. 

 

Considering the above trade issues how can Thailand possibly meet Trump's trade demands (something short of what TACO man can be deceived)? Maybe by more and better trade deals with other large GDP countries. 

SMAIA, I do not know where you shop but there's not one container of the peanut spread imported that is 50thb at Makro. 

8 hours ago, khunjeff said:

 

Thailand consistently excels at "too little, too late". I don't support this tariff war at all, but Vietnam read the room correctly, and Thailand refuses to do so.

Thai's only read Comic Books or watch Cartoons !

7 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Thailand needs to follow Vietnam's lead.... stop playing games and get into the real world.

I think you know by now that Thailand lives in its own 'Parallel World'  !

 

6 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

He's surprised? If the Finance Minister was not aware this was coming I suggest he retires.

He already looks like the Walking Dead !

9 hours ago, JonnyF said:

The EU is weak. It would wring it's hands, clutch it's pearls and then do nothing. The US has a strong leader now and Thailand knows it. 

Demented is the word I’d use. But yes, the EU is a weak bloated pile of do do. 
Perhaps Donald should consider slapping 200% on Thai cars… Okay, tuk-tuks! 😋

17 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

So, I should start formulating my letter of thanks for forcing a serious reduction on California red wines? Hey! It’s medicinal!

What if Thailand says sure wine tariff is zero but then it stops ordering all American wines? And anything else it deems not necessary?  

On 7/10/2025 at 8:15 AM, amykat said:

What if Thailand says sure wine tariff is zero but then it stops ordering all American wines? And anything else it deems not necessary?  

Ha! Then I will continue drinking my Australian box wine.