Thailand in crosshairs of Trump’s trade policy

[ericthai]

12 hours ago, maoro2013 said:

And not just the US please.

you do realize Thailand is not the only country in the world that doesn't allow foreign ownership of land. 

[anon4546543]

Trump and the US public that believe in him are losers. Trump talks big mouth but the reality is he has such small hands. Like everything else he has promised, this cannot/will not happen. Even his best mate Putin is having second thoughts about backing this weasel.

[joecoolfrog]

17 hours ago, Thechook said:

Wish Australia had a Trump.  Australia doesnt own or manufacture a bloody thing the entire stock has been sold off to overseas intetests.  God we dont even own the water.

Surely you have somebody in Oz who can rant on Twitter !

[joecoolfrog]

14 hours ago, brucec64 said:

Unfortunately, that could never happen. A snowflake, liberal judge would overturn the order on the grounds that it might hurt somebody's feelings.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Damn those pesky laws and that awkward Constitution !

[selftaopath]

19 hours ago, StefanBBK said:

I remember some produce from California, i.e. celery, being cheaper here at Makro than in the US.

Also when can we have the "Turkey ban" lifted?

I was told Thais raised turkeys years ago. Wonder why they stopped?

[Berkshire]

17 hours ago, jesimps said:

Ok then, include citizenship in that list too.

Funny...and of course, could never happen.  But why just pick on the Thais?  Many other countries have laws limiting/restricting foreign land ownership, so go after all of them?  Fine.  So even if the impossible happens and the US decides to punish Thais in the US, Thailand doesn't have to just sit there and take it, they can certainly retaliate.  Since Thais can't go to the USA and live there indefinitely on a retirement visa, why should Thailand allow American retirees to do that?  Tit for tat, bye bye retirement visa.  Yeah, that makes sense.

[bobbin]

12 hours ago, little mary sunshine said:

Go get 'me Donald!!  

Freudian slip?

[Ricardo]

16 hours ago, anotheruser said:

 

Well it would not be in the interest of the United States to do so. The USA profits off of capital gains made by it's citizens who sell to foreign investors and collects taxes on the deals. Why would America want to limit anybody who has money from investing it in the USA?

 

Thailand damages it's real estate market with nonsense protectionist policies that simply are not needed in the USA. Imagine how many Thais would make big bucks if they could freely sell to foreigners. 

 

If you are going to wish for something that is completely unrealistic you should simply wish Thailand would let you buy land and houses rather than wish the USA would sink to their level and damage their real estate market by doing so.  

 

Yes that was a big run on sentence but I am too lazy to fix it. lol

 

It might be interesting to see the effect on condo-prices, if foreigners were suddenly permitted to own up-to-100%  of the condos in a block ?

 

With one single change of the law, all those empty condos in 50%-foreign-owned blocks would become available for us to buy !

 

And since the pricing model would no-longer need to allow for many of them never being sold, there would be a lot more apartments suddenly on-the-market, and the prices of the remaining ones would fall ?

 

One simple change, from 50% to 100% (or less) would correct the current market-distortion, and make condos more-affordable  (for farangs or Thais)  a lot cheaper ! 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

Not to worry, most of that being sold to America is from Japanese owned factories, they won't be affected because they have so much influence in the USA.

 

I wonder how much of the Thailand-to-USA exports actually come from elsewhere, Cambodian-rice or Chinese electronic-products and so on ? 

[selftaopath]

On 4/2/2017 at 2:14 PM, Thaidream said:

It is not Trump himself who is pushing the narrative but his inner circle who has the agenda and he is just the mouthpiece.  Every country who has a balance of trade deficit wants to make it more equal. That is why countries negotiate free trade agreements and give certain countries added breaks when establish business in their respective countries. 

At present, Thailand has favored nation status with lower duties/taxes than other countries due to its status as a developing Nation.  The US has the Treaty of Amity which allows Americans to set up business in Thailand with easier requirements.

What Thailand and America needs is a free trade agreement which will lower duties/tax for both countries. I would expect that this will happen.  However, Thailand is not dumb- their excise tax plan which is more far reaching than the public realizes will offset much of the gains for the Thai consumer.  Since so many Thais do not pay income tax- the Thai Government is not going to lose income due to  free trade agreements. In addition, I expect the Thai VAT to keep increasing.

Every US President has attempted to increase exports and some have been effective. I doubt Trump has the ability to effectively negotiate any type of trade deals. This is a lot different than sitting across from a  banker negotiating a land deal and loan. In addition, there are certain countries where you accept a negative balance because there are other advantages you get from a country  such as basing rights for your military; overflight of planes and rights of passage.  That is why you need competent people in your government who actually understands how to do this and the history behind the current situation. 

I doubt Trump knows the difference between Thailand and Taiwan but he might learn it if he goes to the next APEC meeting in Vietnam

If Liar in Chief read your post I suspect he'd say "NOBODY knew it was so complicated." :-)  Boyyyyyyyyy U.S. has a President that will go down in history.... if this dictator in the making (and his boss Bannon) allows history to be written.

[ericthai]

12 hours ago, Berkshire said:

Funny...and of course, could never happen.  But why just pick on the Thais?  Many other countries have laws limiting/restricting foreign land ownership, so go after all of them?  Fine.  So even if the impossible happens and the US decides to punish Thais in the US, Thailand doesn't have to just sit there and take it, they can certainly retaliate.  Since Thais can't go to the USA and live there indefinitely on a retirement visa, why should Thailand allow American retirees to do that?  Tit for tat, bye bye retirement visa.  Yeah, that makes sense.

It's possible for an expat to get Thai citizenship.  Several of my long time friends in Thailand have Thai citizenship which they can own land, they have a thai passport only thing is they cant vote.   It's not easy to get but can be done. 

[ericthai]

15 hours ago, selftaopath said:

I was told Thais raised turkeys years ago. Wonder why they stopped?

Dont know how many Thais raise turkeys, but I know one of our neighbors in Isaan raises Turkeys. 

[selftaopath]

On 4/2/2017 at 4:51 PM, brewsterbudgen said:

 

Unlikely to happen. The last thing Thailand needs are Americans or any foreigners inflating the property market.

 

The wealthy Thais love that they can purchase land cheaply. They will not allow prices to increase i.e. letting foreigners into the market would impact Thai purchasing power. It would also make some currently poorer land owners very rich however. Can't have that now can we? lol 

[anon4546543]

On 03/04/2017 at 6:33 AM, selftaopath said:

I was told Thais raised turkeys years ago. Wonder why they stopped?

My wife and I raise muscovy, khaki campbell and Indian runner ducks. Plus meat and egg laying hens - on a small scale. A few goats. All the stock was purchased from the Thai agriculture and livestock outlet. They have turkeys there too. I tried 6. They cause trouble and are slow to start growing. They consume heaps for small weight gain. My goat meat was far more tender than the turkeys. Then there is the problem of distribution. No one wanted to buy. I purchased 50 laying chicks last week and the outlet could not give the turkey chicks away. Anyway, there are enough turkeys on this forum to keep you occupied.

[anon4546543]

12 hours ago, selftaopath said:

The wealthy Thais love that they can purchase land cheaply. They will not allow prices to increase i.e. letting foreigners into the market would impact Thai purchasing power. It would also make some currently poorer land owners very rich however. Can't have that now can we? lol 

My wife purchased 3 more rai a month ago. Rural boonies land for tb600,000. Not expensive but also not cheap. The brother in law in Chonburi (30 minutes from Pattaya central) purchased 1 rai for his restaurant expansion. Tb1,200,000. That is big bucks for a small plot of land. 

Thailand is a small kingdom with many millions to feed. I love the fact that most foreigners cannot own the land. I wish all western countries followed Thai example. Try to buy land in Japan, it cannot happen. They are proud of their sovereignty and the US and others should follow their example.