Saturday, September 26
Thailand, in its latest proposal to avert steep U.S. tariffs, is aiming to boost bilateral trade volumes with the U.S. and reduce its $46 billion trade surplus by 70% within five years, reaching balance in seven to eight years, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira told Bloomberg News on Sunday. Washington has threatened to impose a 36% levy on imports from Thailand if a reduction cannot be negotiated before July 9, when a 90-day pause capping tariffs at a baseline of 10% for most nations expires. Thailand is pushing for a best-case rate of 10%, Pichai said Bloomberg in an interview, adding that even a range of between 10% and 20% would be acceptable. Pichai expects to submit the revised offer before July 9, the report said.
The United States is close to reaching agreements on several trade deals ahead of a July 9 deadline when higher tariffs kick in, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, predicting several big announcements in coming days. Bessent told CNN's "State of the Union" program that the Trump administration would also send out letters to 100 smaller countries with whom the U.S. doesn't have much trade, notifying them that they would face higher tariff rates first set on April 2 and then suspended until July 9. "President Trump's going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that, if you don't move things along, then on August 1, you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level. So I think we're going to see a lot of deals very quickly," Bessent said.
