WASHINGTON – The United States and Thailand met yesterday under the U.S.-Thailand Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
The two sides welcomed the resumption of the TIFA Joint Council Meeting following the COVID-19 pandemic and reaffirmed the importance of working together to strengthen the bilateral economic relationship. The United States and Thailand highlighted cooperation through multilateral engagements including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi and Thailand’s Ambassador to the United States Tanee Sangrat participated in the opening discussion. USTR’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Wallis Yu and Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce Deputy Director General Rachvitch Piyapramote co-chaired the meeting. U.S. and Thai officials discussed and agreed to continue dialogue on the full range of bilateral economic issues including agriculture, labor, intellectual property, digital trade, investment, customs cooperation, and the Generalized System of Preferences program.
Background
The United States and Thailand have a deep history of cooperation on trade, which extends to the 1833 U.S.-Thailand Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations and the U.S.-Thailand TIFA signed in October 2002. In 2022, U.S. goods and services trade with Thailand totaled an estimated $79.1 billion in 2022. U.S. exports to Thailand were $18.6 billion and U.S. imports from Thailand were $60.5 billion. Thailand is the United States’ 18th largest goods trading partner. U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Thailand (stock) was $15.8 billion in 2022, and Thailand's FDI in the United States (stock) was $2.9 billion.
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