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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

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.
Constitutional crisis looming over Thai-US FTA
14-Apr-2005     IPS
If critics of the Thai government's international trade policies have their way, then the current negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between Bangkok and Washington could evolve into constitutional crisis for this Southeast Asian nation.
Signatures to stalk FTA
10-Apr-2005    
Opponents of the Thai-US free trade agreement are gathering 50,000 signatures to sponsor a bill requiring the government to get public and parliamentary approval for any commitments it reaches with a foreign country.
US firm on IP rights protection
9-Apr-2005     Bangkok Post
US chief negotiator Barbara Weisel assured that the FTA agreement would not affect drug prices in Thailand.
US hails progress in Thailand talks
8-Apr-2005    
US negotiators on Friday wound up a third round of negotiations with their Thai counterparts on a proposed free trade agreement, saying they were pleased with the progress made.
1,200 march to urge dropping of intellectual property from US-Thai deal
6-Apr-2005     Bangkok Post
More than 1,200 Thai farmers, slum dwellers and HIV/Aids patients from 30 civic groups staged a six-kilometre walkathon yesterday from a temple in Jomthien to the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel to drive home their demand that intellectual property rights be removed from free trade talks with the United States.
Silence on Thai-US FTA broken: 1,500 people said NO to FTA!
5-Apr-2005    
It took over a thousand and five hundred people blowing their whistle for the Thai government to come out and listen to its people. But did Mr. Nitya Pibulsongkram, head of the Thai negotiating team for the Thai-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA), actually hear them?
US-Thai free trade negotiations: There's little trust in trade talks
5-Apr-2005     Bangkok Post
Negotiators say the FTA will be open to comment, but critics want their say now before it is too late

Referenced sites

Citizen's Trade Campaign: US-Thailand FTA

A US campaign website on the Thai-US FTA

FTA Watch

A coalition of activists, lawyers, NGOs, social movements and labour groups monitoring the US-Thailand FTA negotiations.