Thailand’s Commerce Ministry set out a package of short- and near-term moves aimed at shielding SMEs and sustaining exports through 2025, with Commerce Minister Suphajee Suthumpun detailing trade-remedy upgrades, compliance crackdowns, and market-access initiatives.
Trade with the US and rules of origin.
Bangkok is pushing to finalise an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) with the United States by year-end. To tighten compliance, the Department of Foreign Trade is now the sole issuer of Certificates of Origin (C/O) for US-bound exports and has rolled out AI-based origin verification. Reported counterfeit C/Os have fallen from 149 (2022) and 168 (2023) to 5 (2024) and zero so far in 2025.
Faster trade-remedy protection.
The ministry will cut the petition review window from 4 months to 1 month and shorten investigations from 12 to 9 months, supported by data analytics/AI. As of now, Thailand applies 31 anti-dumping measures and faces 73 from trading partners; there are 6 domestic anti-circumvention actions (Thailand is subject to 4), and several safeguard probes are in train.
SME relief and enforcement.
Authorities reported ฿2.175bn in VAT collected from small-parcel imports, 81,719 prosecutions, and 54,000+ online product checks—part of a broader effort against low-quality imports and nominee structures. Cost-of-living levers continue via Thong Fah discount fairs (over 1,300 items) and transparency on medicine pricing with private hospitals, which the ministry says has produced ฿32.4bn in savings for the public; price controls cover essential medicines and supplies (~฿1.1bn).
“Quick Big Win” priorities (next four months).
Seven near-term workstreams include: (1) sealing the US ART and digitising C/Os; (2) border-trade support for seven Thai-Cambodian provinces (discount fairs, low-cost shipping via Thailand Post, extra market channels); (3) FTA use and expansion while opening new markets in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and ASEAN; (4) continued cost-of-living measures; (5) agricultural price stability and G2G rice deals; (6) SME empowerment (credit, certifications like Thailand Trust Mark/Thai SELECT, MOC+ platform upgrades); and (7) regulatory clean-ups and wider use of AI for market monitoring.
One-stop help for exporters.
A Ministry of Commerce One-Stop Service (OSS) is operating at DITP to advise firms on tariffs, rules of origin, market diversification, and cost-cutting—positioned especially for SMEs navigating US measures.
Outlook.
DITP has guided to 5–7% export growth in 2025 and is pairing promotion with soft-loan access and market-expansion programmes to offset tariff headwinds. The ministry also flagged parallel FTA efforts with the EU and South Korea, and urged the private sector to actively claim negotiated preferences.
What to watch: final text and timing for the US ART, the speed of new AD/AC/SG cases under the compressed timelines, uptake of the OSS by SMEs, and concrete progress on the EU/Korea FTA tracks.
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