BANGKOK, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit will meet with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross for talk on a planned suspension to U.S. tariff-free imports early next month, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Thailand's Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai confirmed Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit will hold talk with his U.S. counterpart Wilbur Ross during the 35th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, scheduled from Nov.2 to Nov. 4.
Don said both sides will certainly negotiate developments in the bilateral trade with regards to the planned suspension to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), scheduled to take effect in next April for over 500 categories of Thai goods imported by the U.S. markets.
The Thai foreign minister commented a positive outcome is largely expected of the planned trade talk and called on all sectors to not worry about it.
The planned suspension to the U.S. tariff-free imports is estimated to cost some 1.3 billion U.S. dollars.
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed cabinet ministers to look into the issue in effort to maintain the country's optimum trade benefits.
Prayut commented that it is yet far from being concluded while both sides still have time to resume negotiations on bilateral trade until next April.
