Trat businesses brace for lengthy closures

Business operators along the Thai-Cambodian frontier in Trat province are bracing for a prolonged border shutdown, urging authorities to reopen checkpoints while rapidly pivoting toward domestic markets to survive.

- JAKKRIT WAEWKRAIHONG

In Khlong Yai district, where cross-border commerce has long sustained livelihoods, traders say they no longer expect the Ban Hat Lek checkpoint to reopen in the near term following the general election that saw the Bhumjaithai Party win the most House seats and move to form a new government.

Thanakit Thanakit, a Thai-Cambodian export trader and village headman in Khlong Yai subdistrict, said operators have accepted that negotiations with Cambodia are unlikely at this stage, leaving border trade in limbo.

“With the current political direction, we don’t see a quick reopening,” he said. “Businesses have to adjust immediately.”