Vitalising pathways for Thai-US ties

Ariffs have certainly been in the news lately, in the face of exponential increases imposed by the US on other parts of the world.

- Vitit Muntarbhorn

For a while, Thailand was nervous about the ominous tariff increase on Thai imports, projected initially at 36%. The most recent lowering of that threshold to 19% has provided breathing space, verging on elation. That variable scenario encourages all parties to sustain a constructive relationship with vitalising pathways, even where national interests might lead to periodic quandaries.

The longstanding relationship between the two countries has withstood the test of time. A key historical fact is that the US was an important interlocutor at the end of the Second World War to prevent the establishment of foreign court(s) by other victors of the war in Thailand.

The underlying idea for such court(s) was to prosecute Thai political leaders accused of having cooperated with the losing side during that armed conflict. The US was also not part of the colonial retrenchment, whereby external powers sought to reestablish their hold over various colonies in the Southeast Asian region.

In such a context, there are various factors which invite empathy from friendly countries, including Thailand, towards the US. First, it is understandable that the latter wishes to tackle its enormous national debt burden, and one way of doing so is to channel the billions now derived from increased tariffs to offset the trillions of dollars of debt, as well as its trade deficit.

Concurrently, the country has been terminating the massive grant of development aid to former recipients. However, there have been some interesting exceptions, such as a recent $US3.2 billion (103 billion baht) contribution to the International Development Association of the World Bank, which provides loans to less developed countries.