ISDS Case Map
Thailand
US congressmen have pledged to accommodate Thailand's concerns about drug prices and freer mobility for Thais into the United States once the two countries conclude their free trade area (FTA) agreement.
Finance Minister Thanong Bidaya said yesterday that the Thai-US free-trade agreement (FTA) would be difficult to hurry as Thai bankers are concerned about competing with their sophisticated counterparts in the field of e-banking. “I can't say when the deal could be concluded because both sides still use absolutely different approaches,” Thanong said.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and US President George W Bush agreed Monday to make vigorous efforts to reach a conclusion on the US-Thai Free Trade Agreement (FTA) next year, the leaders said in a joint statement.
As senior bureaucrats from Thailand and the US prepare to enter the fifth round of negotiations over the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Hawaii later this month, two Thai organic farmers have started their own campaign in the US. Phakpum Inpaen and Kanya Onsri from Surin province left Thailand yesterday on a 23-day circuit tour to talk to people in the US about how the FTA deal will threaten their survival.
Thailand has advised India not be deterred by the "aftershocks" of a tariff reduction on products under the Early Harvest Scheme in the Indo-Thai Free Trade Agreement (FTA) initiated in September last year.
The Thai government should seek a consensus from the public before signing a free trade area (FTA) agreement with the United States, according to a leading academic.
The free trade agreement with the United States threatens Thailand's ecological biodiversity and cultural uniqueness, researchers warned yesterday. Visut Baimai, director of the Biodiversity Research and Training Programme, said he feared the FTA would accelerate deforestation to grow profitable single-crop plantations. This, he said, could undermine both the ecosystem and sustainable economic development.
Thailand's trade deficit with China could be as high as $2 billion in 2018, when the Asean-China free trade area (FTA) agreement becomes fully operational, a study by Chulalongkorn University shows.
Thailand should be more aggressive in its response to the US push for environmental and labour protection under the bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreement, a seminar sponsored by the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) was told.
On liberalising services and investment, Thailand insists on adopting a "positive list" approach, where only those sectors explicitly outlined in the agreement would be opened. The US insists on a "negative list", under which all sectors are on the table except those listed as sensitive.
