With the race to the White House still too close to call in the United States, the Ministry of Commerce is actively monitoring developments, with the Commerce Minister saying whoever becomes the 46th President of the United States will have an effect on trade and investment approaches with Thailand.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit, has provided an overview on what the different trading policies would be between the two presidential candidates, with Donald Trump holding on to his America First policy that focuses on bilateral deals between two countries, while Joe Biden would probably adjust US policies to focus more on environmental and labor issues.
He said Joe Biden if successful, is likely to adopt a more flexible trading policy than the Trump administration has, with more focus on multilateral deals, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in which the US may change its approach should Biden become president. The Democratic candidate could also be expected to utilize mechanisms of the World Trade Organization more than the Trump administration.
Mr Jurin believes the US will continue its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), regardless of the election result.
Thammasat University’s Borom Rachakumari Chinese Learning Center has held a seminar on the impact of the US election on China and global politics, where a speaker, Mr Sompop Manarungsan, the President at the Panyapiwat Institute of Management, said the technology war between the US and China would likely ease and become cooperative should Biden become the president, along with the easing of trade restrictions in the tech industry, while the US would likely cooperate better with the international community in COVID-19 vaccine projects.
Analyst Somchai Pakapakwiwat said both Trump and Biden would give their attention to the Asia Pacific region as a strategic region to balance China’s power, however Biden as President would focus more on the human rights aspect, with countries ridden with human rights issues possibly facing exclusion.
Political science lecturer at Thammasat University Jittipat Poonkham said today that the US election turnout was a very high 70 percent of the electorate, and incumbent President Donald Trump may not accept the result if he loses.
He said Trump has already prepared legal challenges with the Supreme Court should he lose this election, however a victory by him could mean the worsening of US relations with foreign countries, and an intensified US-China trade war.
