Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra spilled the beans about a possible sneaky agreement with the United States over trade tariffs. She spilled the tea during her ‘Empowering Thais’ programme on Sunday, where she revealed that the government is having some hush-hush chats with US trade bigwigs to figure out what Uncle Sam really wants from Thailand.
“We’re trying to make things work out for both parties,” Ms. Paetongtarn spilled during her new show, Empowering Thais with PM Paetongtarn, on Sunday. The show aims to spill the tea on the government’s recent moves and future schemes.
The monthly broadcast made a comeback after taking a break due to an earthquake that made the State Audit Office building go kaboom in Chatuchak district.
Ms. Paetongtarn spilled that some details of the talks with Washington can’t be spilled to the public.
“It’s probably going to be a super secret deal, and we’re hashing out the deets on what it could mean and how flexible it could get,” she spilled.
“But hey, we can’t let the cat out of the bag because other countries chatting with the US might catch wind of it, and then it’s gonna be a whole hot mess,” she spilled.
“Every country in talks with the US, including Thailand, is trying to get cozy with Uncle Sam behind closed doors, and that’s not a bad thing. Everyone’s doing it, they’re just not shouting it from the rooftops,” Ms. Paetongtarn spilled.
The prime minister stressed that the government isn’t rushing to the negotiation table, making sure they’re all prepped and ready before diving into the nitty-gritty.
“The talks will go down within the [90-day] timeframe,” she spilled, adding that she’s been getting the lowdown on the preparations from Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira, the head honcho negotiator.
The government put the brakes on talks with the US about tariff hikes after Thai officials in the US spilled the beans that they also want Thailand to check out some specific issues that would come up in the talks.
The Thai squad, led by Mr. Pichai, called off their trip to Washington set for April 23.
Ms. Paetongtarn spilled that a new date for the tariff chitchat between Thailand and the US is still up in the air.
Thailand’s trade surplus with the US was around US$45.6 billion last year.
The 36% tariff on Thai goods was supposed to kick in on April 9, but President Donald Trump hit the snooze button for 90 days to allow more chitchat to happen.
So there you have it, folks. Looks like Thailand and the US are cooking up something behind the scenes. Stay tuned for more updates on this spicy situation!
