ROYAL THAI GOVERNMENT AIMS TO SHORE UP TRADE WITH USA

The Royal Thai Government is attempting to protect Thailand’s trade benefits with the United States after the US Trade Representative announced it would investigate labor practices in the Kingdom. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) is slated to begin a special investigation into Thailand’s reported use of forced labor in January & may cut Thailand’s tariff privileges despite recently extending the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for the Kingdom to more than 3,000 items.

In response to a claim by the American Federation of Labour & Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), Deputy Commerce Minister Suvit Maesincee said yesterday that Thailand would prove to the US that the government & the private sector had stringently taken action against the practice of forced & illegal labor. He said the US should have observed the country’s serious attempt to solve the problem.

The USTR’s special investigation is expected take up to three years and Thailand’s Labour Ministry will submit a report to the USTR on all of the actions that have been taken to tackle the problem.

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