Bangkok – Deputy Commerce Minister Chutima Bunyapraphasara met her American counterpart this week, to discuss the possibility of maintaining Thailand’s eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade program.
The Deputy Minister met with the Honorable Gilbert B. Kaplan and the Deputy United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jeffrey D. Gerrish, during her trip to the U.S. to urge them to lift tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Thailand.
Chutima claimed Thailand’s aluminum and steel exports to the U.S. account for less than 1% and don’t have any significant impact on the steel and aluminum industries in America. The Trump administration has imposed tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on imported aluminum.
She also defended Thailand after the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) launched a petition to the Office of the United States Trade Representative to review Thailand’ eligibility in the GSP trade preference program.
The AFL-CIO accused Thailand of failing to meet International Labour Organization (ILO)’s labor standards while the NPPC claimed Thailand unfairly banned pork products from the U.S. Chutima said relevant labor laws in Thailand are now being amended and modernized to meet the ILO’s requirements. The laws will be enforced this year.
America is Thailand’s 3rd largest trading partner after China and Japan. Thailand exported products worth 26 billion dollars to the U.S. last year while imports from the U.S accounted for 14 billion dollars.
