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  1. Negotiations

US-Thailand


The US and Thailand started negotiations on a comprehensive bilateral free trade agreement in June 2004.

Like other recent bilateral free trade agreements with the US, the US-Thailand FTA will cover investment, services, government procurement, intellectual property, as well as agriculture. Many expect it to be modeled on the US-Singapore FTA.

The negotiations have attracted strong opposition and concern among many Thai social movements, farmers to people with HIV/AIDS. A broad civil society coalition, FTA Watch, was formed at the outset to closely monitor the process from a public interest perspective. (Likewise, business interests set up their own US-Thai FTA Coalition.) Under the banner of "sovereignty not for sale!", key issues of popular concern include access to medicine, GMOs in agriculture and patents on life.

The last round of talks took place in Chiang Mai in January 2006 with 10,000 people protesting in the streets and disrupting the meeting. Negotiations have not resumed since.

last update: May 2012

Protesters break through police barricade at Thai-US trade talks
10-Jan-2006    
Some 6,000 protesters on Tuesday broke through a barricade around the hotel where Thai and US negotiators are holding free trade talks, police said.
Clashes briefly interrupt Thai-U.S. FTA talks in Chiang Mai
10-Jan-2006    
Small clashes between Thai police and demonstrators on Tuesday briefly interrupted the sixth round of negotiations on the proposed Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement between Thailand and the United States which ran into the second day in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, reported the Thai News Agency.
Activists want Bush to halt FTA
10-Jan-2006    
Pro-democracy groups will urge US President George W Bush to halt free-trade agreement talks with Thailand because Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has violated the Constitution by refusing to seek parliamentary approval for the deal, group leaders said yesterday.
Thousands resist pact with US
10-Jan-2006     Bangkok Post
Over 8,000 protesters from an alliance of 11 groups opposing the Thai-US free trade area (FTA) agreement took to the streets of this northern city yesterday to demand what they termed unfair trade negotiations be scrapped.
OPINION: It could be a matter of life and death
10-Jan-2006     Bangkok Post
Thailand should think carefully about surrendering its sovereign rights under the WTO -- and access to cheap medicine -- in exchange for an FTA with the United States
Government urged to build financial architecture before opening up FTA with US
9-Jan-2006    
The government should build a financial architecture before establishing a free trade area (FTA) between Thailand and the United States, according to leading financiers.
Thai-US FTA: Somkid aide assigned to trade talks
9-Jan-2006    
Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has tightened his grip over the Thai-US FTA talks by assigning his right-hand man, Uttama Savanayana, to play a key role in the negotiations with the US team in Chiang Mai, a source said yesterday.
Thaksin promises FTA details later
9-Jan-2006    
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra reiterated on Monday that the government is ready to reveal the result of negotiations to establish a free trade area (FTA) between Thailand and the United States - in due course.
Thaksin says no to parliamentary debate on FTA
9-Jan-2006     The Nation
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Monday shot down a proposal for Parliament to debate free trade agreements (FTAs), including a draft being negotiated between Thailand and the United States. "I see no justification for legislative debate on FTAs as Parliament does not have qualified personnel to scrutinise the matter," he said.
10,000 protest US-Thai FTA talks
9-Jan-2006     Bangkok Post
Thousands of Thais representing a diverse swath of society ranging from garlic growers to HIV/AIDS activists gathered outside a hotel in Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai Monday to protest closed-door talks on a Thai-US free trade agreement (FTA).