2-way trade plans take ministry flak
Businesses laud Trump ‘America First’ policy
DA NANG: Thailand insists on supporting multilateral free trade, despite US President Donald Trump reiterating his America First policy again at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Vietnam, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
After arriving in Da Nang for the Apec’s Economic Leaders’ meeting, which will be held today, Mr Trump told the Apec CEO Summit yesterday the United States is against multilateralism but agrees to seek bilateral agreements with countries that play “fair” with the US.
“I will make bilateral trade agreements with any Indo-Pacific nation that wants to be our partner and that will abide by the principles of fair and reciprocal trade,” he said.
“What we will no longer do is enter into large agreements that tie our hand, surrender our sovereignty and make meaningful enforcement practically impossible,” he said.
“Instead, we will deal on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit.”
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said multilateralism and regional cooperation has been, and still is, the global trend.
He said it is up to each country to work on capacity building and competitiveness to ensure it benefits from the agreements.
“It’s not that we’re inside a womb and never acknowledge any good or bad situations. It has always been a changing world,” he said.
Compromise and exchanges of mutual benefit are crucial as countries recognise the importance of cooperation, he added.
“Everybody can see that connectivity is important. It might be only the problems of some countries that see they are losing benefits. But these can only be short term,” he told the Bangkok Post.
The declaration from the Apec Ministerial Meeting (AMM) was delayed from Wednesday as the 21 member economies, which include the US, China and Russia, failed to reach agreement.
Commerce Minister Apiradee Tantraporn, who also attended the AMM, said Thailand benefits from multilateral agreements at many levels and cannot depend on one particular pact.
She added the kingdom also engages in bilateral talks and agreements with a number of trading partners.
Nonetheless, Mr Trump’s remarks were welcomed by many Thai businessmen.
Kalin Sarasin, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) and the Board of Trade of Thailand, said it would be an advantage for Thailand if the US shifted to seek bilateral trade and investment cooperation with the country.
“As we can see, the Thai premier got a very warm welcome from the US president during his US visit early last month,” he said.
“So it should be easy for Thailand and the US to have a bilateral FTA [free-trade area], if they want to have one.”
Moreover a trade pact could be negotiated faster if there were only two parties involved, he said.
On the flip side, Thailand could be disadvantaged when squaring off against the world’s largest superpower, he added.
“If the two sides negotiate fairly, I think Thailand could benefit [ overall],” Mr Kalin said.
Thailand Development and Research Institute (TDRI) research director for economic governance Deunden Nikomborirak echoed similar comments.
She said there is a global trend of switching from multilateral to bilateral agreements as these tend to be more flexible, and Thailand should not miss this opportunity.
“Thailand should not miss this trend as all countries are seeking trade ties with the US in hope of penetrating the US market, particularly as the US economy is recovering,” she said.
She said the US gobbles up around 8-9% of Thailand’s exports.
“That is why we have to care about this and try to establish [stronger] trade ties with the US regardless of whether the pact is bilateral or multilateral,” she added.
Yet she acknowledged t he nation could struggle in bilateral negotiations especially when it comes to sensitive areas like intellectual property violations. Thailand has been for many years on a US watchlist for this.
Mr Trump’s visit to Vietnam is part of his first official visit to East Asia from Nov 3-14, with stops in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, where he is due to attend the US-Asean Summit.
His speech yesterday at the Apec CEO Summit contrasted with those of other leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who both supported the further liberalisation of trade and investment.
The US, under Mr Trump, withdrew from the 12-member Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in January.
He also announced he would tackle Washington’s trade deficit with other countries, notably China.
It should be easy for Thailand and the US to have a bilateral FTA, if they want to have one. KALIN SARASIN CHAIRMAN OF THE THAI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
BEIJING: President Donald Trump heaped praise on President Xi Jinping of China on Thursday, blaming past US administrations for China’s yawning trade surplus with the United States and saying he was confident that Mr Xi could defuse the threat from North Korea.
Mr Trump’s warm words, on a state visit to China replete with ceremony but short of tangible results, showed a president doubling down on his gamble that by cultivating a personal connection with Mr Xi, he can push the Chinese leader to take meaningful steps on North Korea and trade.
In public, Mr Trump projected an air of deference to China that was almost unheard-of for a visiting US president. Far from attacking Mr Xi on trade, Mr Trump saluted him for leading a country that he said had left the United States “so far behind”. He said he could not blame the Chinese for taking advantage of weak US trade policy.
Behind closed doors, US officials insisted, Mr Trump forcefully confronted Mr Xi about the trade imbalances between the two countries. He also pressed China to take tougher measures toward North Korea, including a suspension of oil shipments.
In neither case did the Chinese make significant concessions, nor did Mr Trump express dissatisfaction with their response.
It was a remarkable moment in the story of China’s rise and the United States’ response to it, with Mr Trump’s performance suggesting a tipping point in greatpower politics. By concluding that the United States can better achieve its goals by flattering a Chinese leader than by challenging him, Mr Trump seemed to signal a reversal of roles: The United States may now need China’s help more than the other way around.
Mr Trump marvelled at the reception Mr Xi had given him, from a full-dress military parade in Tiananmen Square to a sunset tour of the Forbidden City. He congratulated him on consolidating power at a recent Communist Party congress, declaring, “Perhaps now more than ever we have an opportunity to strengthen our relationship.”
“You’re a very special man,” he told Mr Xi in an appearance before reporters, at which they did not take questions.
Mr Xi, for his part, did not return Mr Trump’s personal praise, seeming to treat him like any other US leader.
“I told the president that the Pacific is big enough to accommodate both China and the United States,” Mr Xi said, after reciting his well-worn line that the two countries could peacefully coexist if they respected each other’s political systems.
Trump administration officials said that the leaders’ exchanges had had a harder edge behind the scenes. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters that Mr Trump had, in effect, used flattery to appeal to Mr Xi to do more to isolate North Korea.
“Our president has been very clear with President Xi that he takes the view that, ‘You are a very powerful neighbor of theirs, you account for 90-plus percent of their economic activity, you’re a strong man,’” Mr Tillerson said. “‘You can, I’m sure, solve this for me.’”
Mr Tillerson dismissed Mr Trump’s contention that trade deficits were the United States’ fault as “a little bit of tongue in cheek” in the midst of a much tougher discussion. During their meeting, he said, Robert Lighthizer, US trade representative, listed the long history of trade imbalances and warned that the situation could not be allowed to continue.
The one tangible gain from Mr Trump’s trip was viewed as a token of Chinese goodwill. Many of the deals are preliminary and will take years to come to fruition. They broke no new ground in areas, like technology, where the United States is losing market access.
Mr Tillerson himself played down the significance of any progress that was made in trade talks. “Quite frankly, in the grand scheme of a three- to five-hundred-billiondollar trade deficit, the things that have been achieved thus far are pretty small,” he said.
Still, Chinese analysts said the deals underscored Mr Xi’s desire to give Trump a victory. “OK relations with Trump’s America is very important for both Xi’s glory and his strategy,” said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Renmin University.
Mr Trump’s conciliatory words on trade were particularly striking, given his protectionist threats during the 2016 presidential campaign. At the end of his appearance with Mr Xi, a US reporter asked whether Mr Trump still believed, as he once said, that China was “raping” the United States through unfair trade practices.
On North Korea, the leaders’ meeting brought similarly mixed results. Mr Trump, officials said, asked Mr Xi to cut off oil shipments, to shut down North Korean bank accounts, and to send home tens of thousands of North Koreans who work in China.
North Korea has been striving to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can hit the United States mainland. But Pyongyang has not conducted a missile testin nearly two months, which some analysts see as providing a diplomatic opening.
In a sign that China was doing something, even incremental, to curb ties, some travel agencies in the border town of Dandong were told this week to curtail their tourist business in the North.
North Korea has become a popular
destination for Chinese travelers who want inexpensive foreign trips. Shutting down tours cuts off an avenue for Chinese currency for the North Korean regime, although hardly a major one.
On Saturday, the United States signalled its resolve to put military pressure on North Korea, announcing that three aircraft carrier groups would carry out large-scale naval manoeuvres in the Western Pacific. At the same time, Mr Trump seemed to accept Mr Xi’s pleas for patience.
“President Xi took that view that the sanctions are going to take a little while, that he didn’t expect immediate results,” Mr Tillerson said.