Thailand believes in fair trade. The Ministry of Commerce is preparing to add more items to its control list to prevent foreign manufacturers from using Thailand to dump their goods in the United States and other markets.

Arada Fuangtong, Director-General of the Department of Foreign Trade, said an additional 16 products were under consideration for the watch list, which would increase the total from 49 to 65 items. The Department is the sole governmental authority responsible for identifying products that circumvent anti-dumping rules.

Thailand and the United States are in the midst of negotiating a mutually beneficial deal on reciprocal tariffs and trade. A Thai Government team was in Washington D.C. in early July to meet4 with their American counterparts with the goal of having such a deal and a more balanced trade and economic relationship.

Since the 1980s, Thailand has emerged as a manufacturing powerhouse in East Asia. Thousands of foreign companies have established factories in the Kingdom to produce goods for the Thai market and for export around the world.

The United States is among the top destinations for good produced in Thailand.

Arada said the Department is reviewing the renewal of implementation of anti-dumping measures concerning four products: citric acid from China; cold-rolled steel sheet from China, Taiwan and Viet Nam; steel pipes from Viet Nam; and high-carbon wire rods from China.

The Department has launched an investigation into the potential implementation of new anti-dumping measures for three products: aluminum frames from China, cold-rolled stainless steel from Viet Nam and H-beam structural steel from China.

In addition, anti-circumvention measures are being considered for Chinese-origin steel pipes and cold-rolled steel sheets.