RCEP members to eliminate import tariffs on a host of Thailand-made goods
Five non-Asean members – China, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia – will do away with import tariffs on some products from Thailand and other Asean countries once the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) comes into effect on January 1, Department of Trade Negotiations director-general Auramon Supthaweethum said on Tuesday.
The RCEP is a free-trade agreement (FTA) among 15 Asia-Pacific countries – Thailand, Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam.
It will be Thailand’s 14th FTA with other countries.
With 15 members and a market of 2.3 billion people, or 30 per cent of the global population, the RCEP is seen as the largest current FTA. Member states account for a whopping 33.6 per cent, or a third, of the world’s GDP and a third of global trade.
Auramon said Thailand, too, would eliminate import tariffs on more than 29,000 products for RCEP members.
She explained that Thailand would receive import tariff exemptions from five non-Asean countries as follows:
> China: 67.3 per cent of all products will be exempted from import duties, such as industrial products, optical components, wood, telephone components, computer parts, electrical components, petroleum products and polypropylene beads.
> South Korea: 61.5 per cent of all products will be exempted from import duties, such as petroleum products, washing machines, refrigerators, motorcycle components, photography equipment, signal transmission equipment, audio recording equipment parts, fuses, electric transformers, cotton and synthetic fabrics and sugar.
> Japan: 73 per cent of all products will be exempted from import duties, such as telephones, computer components, integrated circuits, printers, air-conditioners, cameras, video recorders, signal transmission equipment, aluminium doors and windows, electric wires, smoked rubber sheets and pet food.
> New Zealand: 64.6 per cent of all products will be exempted from import duties, such as car wheels, canned tuna, pet food, petroleum products, shampoo, vulcanised rubber, clothes and accessories, internal combustion engine parts, accumulators, wires, cables and wooden chairs.
> Australia: 75.3 per cent of all products will be exempted from import duties, such as air-conditioner components, canned tuna, refrigerators, washing machines, precious-metal accessories, car wheels, plastic bags, flavoured food, optical equipment, cosmetics, soaps, shampoos and juices.
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