BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thai export growth could exceed targets this year but challenges loom as the government seeks to negotiate a tariff deal with the United States that would benefit both sides, its commerce minister said on Friday.
“This year’s exports will still meet targets, or be slightly better,” Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan told a business seminar. “It may be bumpy, but it is not bad.” The government has forecast exports to grow by 2%-3% this year.
Pichai spoke after export growth hit a 3-year high in March at 17.8%. Exports grew 15.2% annually in the first quarter.
But the Thai economy, Southeast Asia’s second-largest, stands to be among the hardest hit in the region by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz. It faces a 36% U.S. import tax if a cut cannot be negotiated before Trump’s pause in enforcing the “reciprocal tariff” policy expires in July.
The United States was Thailand’s largest export market last year with shipments of $55 billion. Washington has put its bilateral trade deficit with Thailand at $45.6 billion.
Thai-U.S. trade negotiations that were scheduled for this week have been postponed because the Trump administration has asked Bangkok to review important issues including its tariff structure, according to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
His government has said its negotiation strategy will focus on industries where the U.S. and Thailand share interests, such as energy and pet food and increasing U.S. imports including liquefied natural gas.
U.S. officials are satisfied with Thai steps taken to tackle “circumvention”, Pichai said, alluding to concerns over China exporting via third countries to evade Trump’s tariffs.
Shipments of rubber gloves, tyres and animal feed to the United States were expected to rise to replace Chinese items that have been hit by much steeper U.S. tariffs, Pichai said.
(Reporting by Orathai Sriring, Kitiphong Thaichareon, Thanadech Staporncharnchai and Chayut Setboonsarng; editing by Martin Petty and Mark Heinrich)
