Thailand and the United States are expected to hold a second round of trade talks on non-tariff issues, such as regional value content (RVC), at the end of this month or in early September, with the objective of reaching an Agreement on Reciprocal Tariffs (ART), Deputy Commerce Minister Chantawit Tantasith said Thursday.
He noted, however, that it is unclear at this stage whether the US will negotiate the RVC issue with each country separately or with all countries collectively, which would have significant impacts on Thai goods, except for farm products, food and processed agricultural products, which usually contain a high amount of locally-produced raw materials.
He also said that the ART, when concluded, will have to be approved by the Thai parliament, to ensure public participation in the decision-making process.
Although the 19% tariff imposed on Thai imports to the US market came into effect on Thursday, Chantawit said that the tariffs on transshipped products, set at 40%, has not yet been implemented, pending the issuance of the regulation on transshipped products by the US.
Regarding US imports, of which more than 10,000 items are to be exempted from taxation in Thailand, the deputy commerce minister said 60% of these have already been zero rated under free trade agreements with the US and several other countries.
For the other 20%, or about 2,000 types of goods, he claimed that they will have minimal impacts on Thai products, because there is a slim chance that they will be imported.
