Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit on Monday quelled lingering concerns of car exporters about the possible retaliatory move by the Philippines in the long-running cigarette tax dispute between the two countries.
Speaking after meeting with Sanan Angubolkul, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and Kazuo Hidaka, president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce (JCC) in Thailand, Mr Jurin said there are indications the two countries could address trade discrepancies and agree not to create any new trade disputes or seek trade retaliations after the Thai ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) closely discussed the matter with his Philippine counterpart.
The Philippines set up a committee to study and impose safeguard measures on Thailand's passenger car and pickup truck exports in December 2020, leading to the collection of import duties on Thai passenger cars and pickup trucks from Feb 1 this year.
The duty has been charged on Philippine importers at 42,000 baht per passenger car and 66,000 baht per pickup truck. This has resulted in higher expenses for Philippine importers, with a total of 1.2 billion baht charged on the two types of imported cars.
The safeguard measure has been seen as a retaliatory move in the long-running cigarette tax dispute between the two countries.
Thailand has established a special task force to defend the allegations and submitted letters to the trade minister of the Philippines, calling on its Asean neighbour to respect WTO rules and refrain from imposing restrictions on imports in the form of additional tariffs.
Thailand has also threatened to bring the dispute to the WTO for settlement.
The Philippines agreed on Aug 6 to scrap the tariff plans and return the import duties, after Mr Jurin and other officials ramped up attempts to resolve the trade dispute.
Mr Jurin said the Philippines' decision will help Thailand retain market share in two vehicle categories in the Philippine market, worth 60-70 billion baht a year.
Pickup trucks imported from Thailand control up to 99% of that automotive niche in the Philippines, while Thai passenger cars control 20% of that sector.
According to a study by Thailand's International Trade Promotion Department, in recent years the Philippines' car market has reported continuously healthy growth driven by the population's higher purchasing power, relatively low car occupancy and rising replacement demand.
