Thailand has a “strong plan” to deal with US taxes, according to the prime minister

The prime minister said today that Thailand has a “strong plan” to deal with the harsh new trade tariffs that US President Donald Trump put in place and wants to negotiate a lower rate.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra said that the government would take steps to lessen the effects of the 36% tax that Washington announced as part of the huge tariffs that have shook markets around the world.

Yesterday, Trump made his trade war worse by putting stiffer extra taxes on key trading partners and putting 10% tariffs on goods coming from all over the world.

Southeast Asian countries that had a big trade surplus with the US were treated badly. Vietnam got a 46% tax, and Cambodia got a 49% tariff.

“Our plan is strong,” Paetongtarn told the press.

“We have planned a number of actions, such as sending our permanent secretary to talk to them…” I think we can still work something out.

Trump called his speech “Liberation Day” and said it would bring wealth to the US. However, friends criticized the move right away, and the markets went into a panic.

The deputy finance minister of Thailand, Julapun Amornvivat, said that the government wasn’t shocked when it got hit with taxes, even though the amount was higher than expected.

In an online video interview, he said, “We have to negotiate with understanding, not aggressive talk. We have to talk about which products they think are unfair and see if we can make changes.”

He said that officials from the finance ministry would get together to talk about what can be done to lessen the immediate effects and to make rules for future discussions.

Today, Paetongtarn meets Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India. Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin Shinawatra, became prime minister of Thailand after the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.

The two will talk before tomorrow’s meeting of the Bimstec group, which is made up of mostly South Asian countries plus Thailand and Myanmar. The head of Myanmar’s military government is taking a rare trip outside of Asia to attend.