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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

Thai Govt urged to put off US talks
11-Jun-2005     Bangkok Post
Farm advocates, intellectual property rights experts and farmers groups yesterday called on the government to postpone the upcoming round of free trade negotiations with the United States that would focus on intellectual property rights (IP) to avoid the impact on farmers.
US still hopes to conclude Thai-US FTA
10-Jun-2005    
The US still hopes to conclude a long-awaited U.S.-Thailand free trade agreement despite a number of unsettled issues, including the liberalization of the Thai financial sector, US Ambassador to Thailand Ralph Boyce said Friday.
Washington insists financial services must be on agenda
30-May-2005     Bangkok Post
Financial-sector liberalisation could undermine efforts to negotiate a Thailand-US free-trade area agreement, according to Finance Ministry officials.
Operators in financial sector opposes FTA with US
30-May-2005     MCOT
Local operators in the financial sector have voiced opposition to the financial liberalization between the United States and Thailand, saying that they would be put at disadvantage since the US financial services are more advanced than Thailand's.
Removing IPR - too much at stake for Thailand
13-May-2005    
The recently concluded round of US-Thai FTA negotiations brought little contentment for the Thais, especially those with direct interests in maintaining the existing degree of intellectual property right (IPR) protection already in place.
Steps needed to avoid legal disputes with US
6-May-2005     Bangkok Post
The Thai government must become more efficient and enact more ironclad laws in order to avoid unnecessary legal disputes with US investors once the Thailand-US free trade area (FTA) agreement takes effect, says a local researcher.
Zoellick's visit fails to ease Thai concerns
5-May-2005    
Thailand was Robert Zoellick's first stop on a week-long visit to Southeast Asia to discuss economic, security and political issues.
Parts makers up in arms against FTA
3-May-2005    
Thai auto parts manufacturers have expressed strong opposition to a plan to reduce tariffs on imported Japanese automobiles with engines larger than 3,000cc under the proposed Thailand-Japan free trade agreement.
Thailand has little to gain in trade pact with US
29-Apr-2005     Bangkok Post
The FTA with the US would tighten the intellectual property rights regime even further, offering no perceptible benefit to Thailand
Thailand-US FTA: "Whatever we have to sacrifice must be sacrificed, if that helps get a better deal"
26-Apr-2005     Focus
The third round of Thailand-US free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations ended on 8 April with great disappointment for civil society activists because people's demand and concerns were cast aside.