Canada hopes to seal Asean trade deal soon
'We are diversifying and we are establishing those trade relationships,' Anita Anand, who has been Canada's foreign minister since May, told Bloomberg TV Thursday on the sidelines of an Asean foreign ministers' summit in Kuala Lumpur.
'We are currently negotiating with Asean for a free trade agreement, and we look forward to the conclusion of those negotiations.'
Her remarks come as Canada, like many countries, seeks to reduce its reliance on the US market amid rising American protectionism. Although the US, Canada and Mexico have a trade pact signed during Trump's first term, the president has imposed import taxes of 50% on foreign steel and aluminium, along with levies on cars and trucks — all major Canadian exports.
'Those tariffs are hitting us as well, and we believe they're unjustified,' Anand said, adding that 'we're engaged in complex negotiations with the United States to address the tariffs.'
To expand trade in Asia, Canada has invested heavily in export infrastructure. The government bought and expanded the Trans Mountain pipeline, its only west coast conduit capable of filling oil tankers for Pacific shipments.
Meanwhile, a consortium including Shell Plc, Petronas of Malaysia and PetroChina recently began operations at a major liquefied natural gas facility in British Columbia province.
Still, Canada remains heavily dependent on US trade, with about three-quarters of its exports — including most oil, gas and autos — going south of the border last year.
Trade frictions with China also persist. Beijing has imposed tariffs on Canadian canola and other agricultural products in response to Canada's levies on Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminium.
In Southeast Asia, Anand said Canada wants 'to continue to support multilateralism, to continue to show the world that as there is global stress in the geo-strategic environment, Canada is a partner that will always show up to open the doors to trade'.
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Bangkok Post
an hour ago
- Bangkok Post
FTI mobilises data from 47 industrial groups to counter US tariff hike
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) is compiling data from 47 industrial groups for submission to the Ministry of Finance to initiate negotiations in a bid to reduce the retaliatory tariffs and protect Thailand's competitiveness in the US market. The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) is is gathering data from industrial groups for the Finance Ministry to negotiate lower retaliatory tariffs and protect Thailand's competitiveness in the US of Form The FTI has voiced mounting concern over the United States' imminent enforcement of reciprocal tariffs targeting 22 countries, including Thailand, beginning Aug 1. In the federation's press release on Saturday, FTI chairman Kriengkrai Thiennukul said the federation is urgently gathering data from 47 industry groups to submit to the Ministry of Finance, with the aim of initiating negotiations to reduce the retaliatory tariffs and protect Thailand's competitiveness in the US market The urgency follows recent US trade deals with Vietnam and the United Kingdom, where tariffs were cut significantly. Vietnam saw its rates lowered from 46% to 20% for direct exports, and to 40% for transhipped goods under strict Chinese-origin control. The US also slashed tariffs on UK car imports to 10% for a quota of 100,000 vehicles per year and opened its market to British agricultural goods, raising concerns that Thailand may lose its competitive edge unless it secures similar reductions. Negotiations are still underway with China, the European Union (EU) and India. China is currently under a temporary tariff truce set to expire on Aug 12. Recent high-level talks between US and Chinese trade representatives in London concluded with a revised tariff structure: the US will maintain a 55% import duty on Chinese goods, down from 145%, while China will impose a 10% duty on US imports, reduced from 125%. However, the agreement awaits formal endorsement from US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jingping, with no official confirmation yet from Beijing. According to the first quarter of 2025 data, exports account for over 58% of Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP), with industrial goods comprising 47%. The FTI has warned that failure to reduce tariffs could inflate export costs, erode competitiveness and undermine investor confidence. The newly announced 36% tariff on Thai goods could result in export losses estimated between 800 billion and 900 billion baht. In May 2025, Thailand recorded export growth of 18.35% year-on-year, the highest in 38 months, reaching US$31.04 billion. However, the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) warned that without policy intervention, exports in the second half of the year could contract by over 10%, bringing full-year growth dangerously close to zero. Mr Kriengkrai said the FTI had discussions with the 47 industry groups and 11 clusters and is in the process of compiling detailed data. Some exporters are attempting to share the tariff burden with US importers and distributors, though this approach has not been universally accepted. He urged the government to push for a tariff reduction to 0% on thousands of affected items and to implement urgent support measures. Sectors hardest hit include machinery and components, electrical machinery—industries heavily reliant on the US market with 28–35% export share—as well as rubber, furniture, auto parts, toys, steel products, leather goods and ceramics. These are all classified as high to very-high risk under the new tariffs. To address the crisis and sustain Thailand's global competitiveness, the FTI outlined four key policy recommendations: 1. Relief measures for affected exporters • Low-interest loans or debt moratoriums. • Corporate income tax reductions for impacted exporters. • Subsidies or reductions in export-related costs such as port service fees, customs procedures, certificates of origin and utilities. • Triple tax deduction for legal expenses incurred in hiring US law firms to negotiate or research trade issues. 2. Market expansion initiatives • Accelerate negotiations of new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). • Promote market diversification via small and medium enterprise (SME) pro-active programmes and trade missions. • Boost domestic consumption by expanding the 'Made in Thailand' (MiT) initiative: - All government agencies should prioritise MiT-certified products. - Tax incentives: Double deductions for MiT-related expenses. - MiT support enhances local content, brand strength, and allows firms to redeem rewards at year-end. 3. Promote local content usage • Enhance current Board of Investment's (BOI) incentives, including corporate tax cuts for firms using over 90% local content. • Boost productivity through technological upgrades and workforce development. 4. Exchange rate stability • Monitor and manage the baht to prevent excessive appreciation against regional currencies. 'This is an unprecedented crisis for Thailand,' said Mr Kriengkrai. 'The FTI is calling on all sectors to work together. With strong collaboration, we can transform this challenge into a turning point for national development and resilience.'
Bangkok Post
3 hours ago
- Bangkok Post
Dear DOGE, it's high time to tear down those dams!
No big government infrastructure project made an imprint on the landscape and economy of the West more than the US Bureau of Reclamation's 20th century dam-building spree, which peppered 490 dams across the country, created an agricultural civilisation dependent on federal hydrology civil engineering, and brought about a welter of environmental difficulties after drying up dozens of once-healthy rivers. Today, the agency claims a US$1.4 billion (45.5 billion baht) budget to maintain its fleet of ageing dams. It was perhaps inevitable that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, would seek to cut it down. Approximately 400 workers at the bureau -- including dam tenders, emergency management specialists, and hydrologists -- received "reduction in force" letters in March, raising fears that poorly monitored dams could fail, creating catastrophic downstream flooding. This, just five weeks after President Donald Trump stoked fears of mismanagement by ordering billions of gallons of water released from two Central Valley dams, against the objections of officials, water experts, and farmers. Turmoil in the federal dam management system represents potential disaster, but also a prime opportunity: It offers environmentalists an opening to make a vigorous case for dam removal -- a move that could save costs and please business interests while achieving a longstanding goal of getting rid of the most harmful and obsolete blockages on Western rivers. The key, one vivid example suggests, is making a scientific initiative attractive in the political realm. At a place called Fossil Creek in the high country of north-central Arizona, a gorgeous waterfall now tumbles near headwaters where an Arizona Public Service (APS) hydroelectric dam stood until 2005. Ask people swimming below the falls where the dam was located, and you'll get some puzzled looks. "There was never any dam here," said one, unaware he was standing right next to its remnants, masonry concealed under travertine deposits that give it every appearance of a natural falls. Arizona built the dam in 1916 to run the ore-crushers at nearby copper and gold mines at Jerome and Crown King. Eventually, the dam also powered streetlights in Phoenix. But by the end of the century, the river had been killed, and the antique plant was providing only 0.002% of APS's total revenue. So APS took 14 feet off the top of the dam and let Fossil Creek flow, and a once-dead waterway sprang back to magnificent life. By 2009, Congress was impressed enough by the transformation to designate this once-tired industrialised trickle a Wild and Scenic River. Twenty years after the removal, rare species like the Chiricahua leopard frog, southwestern willow flycatcher, and yellow-billed cuckoo thrive in pools near the banks. Young cottonwood trees are growing. Algae are reblooming. "Biologically, it's a huge success story," said Jane Marks, professor of aquatic ecology at Northern Arizona University. There are close to a half-million dams standing in the United States today, and 90,000 of them are more than 25 feet high. The biggest ones are in the West, but obsolete remnants of 19th- and 20th-century industrialisation also litter New England and other eastern regions. These dams have served many purposes -- turning mill wheels, impounding water for crops, preventing floods, generating electricity, giving livestock a drink -- but scientific consensus now holds that they do more collective damage than good. The stagnant pools, mounds of underwater silt, mosquito-breeding artificial ponds, and detritus of long-shuttered factories do little to enhance the ecosystem or the landscape. But removing even useless dams is a complicated and often maddening process, says Dartmouth College geographer Francis Magilligan. In some cases, it is unclear who owns a dam or has jurisdiction over it. Local groups may consider a dam a historic site. And even though it is almost always cheaper in the end to remove a defective dam rather than repair it, the amount of process and paperwork involved can be enough to stymie those efforts. Only about 2,200 American dams have been successfully removed, Magilligan notes. Decommissioning Fossil Creek was possible because it presented a unique political case. Many people at APS felt proud of the dam and the plant, and resisted shutting it down. Even though it was practically an antique, the flume leading down from the dam to the Childs and Irving power plants was still helping generate four megawatts of electricity (enough to power about 1,000 homes) and making about $500,000 per year for the Fortune 500 company. But APS was not only Arizona's largest utility; it was also an immensely powerful lobbying force in the state legislature with a long-term interest in good public relations. There was also a personal quirk. Bill Post, the CEO of APS's parent company, happened to have been childhood friends with the outspoken environmentalist Robin Silvers, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity. Mr Silvers appealed to Mr Post's outdoorsman side in making the case for Fossil Creek. Over the objections of colleagues, Mr Post approved the dam removal as a goodwill gesture and a concession to Mr Silver's lobbying just before the facility was up for relicensing through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. "It bought them a lot of 'green points' and positive community attention," recalled Prof Marks. In fact, the greatest environmental threat at Fossil Creek now comes not from stagnant water or unhealthy biomes but from a crush of human sunseekers in the summer who create traffic and litter. Scientists are still looking at the long-term implications of shutting down the dam, assessing the movement of the 90-year silt buildup behind the dam walls, and the potential reentry of non-native fish like bass and sunfish. And Fossil Creek is not the only recent high-profile test case for Western dam removal. A coalition of Native tribes in California convinced Berkshire Hathaway Energy to transfer ownership of four dams on the Klamath River to a nonprofit organisation to oversee their dismantling, in the name of rehabilitating a salmon fishery. Not that science is a major concern of the federal government right now. Trump administration officials have even made moves aimed at expanding the holding capacity of the Shasta Dam to hold back more of the McCloud River in northern California. But if DOGE is truly interested in saving money instead of making layoffs, it will take a serious look at a dam removal programme and sell it to the public as a cost-cutting measure, ironically making the "drill, baby, drill" Trump administration a champion of riparian health. Fossil Creek may point the way, not just because of the solid science but because of the down-and-dirty politics. The dramatic waterfall over the dam's old stump stands as both a monument to physical rebirth and a challenge to blocked-up rivers everywhere. Could it be a representative showpiece for what dam removal can do, perhaps even portending truly large-scale eradications like the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River? Or are the circumstances at Fossil Creek just too singular for it to serve as a general parable? "The myth was that science made a difference," Mr Silvers told me. "It all came down to hardball politics, because these guys were all about the bottom line." Zócalo Public Square
Bangkok Post
5 hours ago
- Bangkok Post
Detailing Neta's fall from grace
Jutamas Tadthiemrom, an employee of a Bangkok-based media corporation, has been using her Neta electric vehicle (EV) for just over a year. The main reason she bought it was to reduce her fuel expenses, as she had used her previous car for more than 12 years. But the Chinese EV maker, which has attracted interest among motorists worldwide, failed to impress Ms Jutamas after the delivery of her vehicle was delayed. "The quality of the car has been decent, considering the price. There have been no major faults," she told the Bangkok Post. However, TQM, Neta's insurance broker in Thailand, called Ms Jutamas to cancel the second-class insurance policy she held offered by Viriyah Insurance, even before Hozon New Energy Automobile Co, the Chinese parent of Neta, formally announced its bankruptcy. At that point, she decided to secure a third-class insurance policy offered directly by Viriyah Insurance in case Neta's Thai subsidiary also entered into bankruptcy. However, she wondered which company would be responsible for her car's maintenance going forward and whether it would be difficult in the future to secure some form of compensation, given the parent company's status. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NETA BRAND? Ms Jutamas is not the only concerned Neta owner in Thailand, as the Chinese company that entered the Thai market in 2022 has struggled to compete with BYD, a rival Chinese EV brand. As a consequence, Neta Thailand has struggled to meet the Thai government's requirements for its incentive programme aimed at boosting EV production. Under the scheme, car manufacturers were exempt from import duties in 2024, but were obliged to match import volumes with domestic production. Citing decelerating sales and tightening credit conditions, car manufacturers asked the government to adjust the scheme and the production shortfall in 2024 has since been rolled over into this year. As Neta's parent firm entered bankruptcy proceedings in China last month, according to state media, the Thai unit is unable to produce the required number of cars locally. According to Reuters, the Excise Department received a complaint filed last month by 18 Neta dealers in Thailand seeking to recover more than 200 million baht of allegedly unpaid debt. Neta's share of Thailand's EV market peaked at 12% of total sales in 2023 when the industry was growing, according to data based on industry research. BYD secured a 49% market share in 2023. In the first five months of 2025, new registrations of Neta vehicles slumped 48.5% year-on-year and its share of EV registrations dropped to just 4%, according to government data. Neta car owners took to social media in droves to share their experiences with maintenance issues and limited after-sales support. A consumer watchdog agency is investigating some of these complaints. Meanwhile, industry analysts said Neta's issues are specific to the company and do not indicate flaws in Thailand's policies or market. However, external shocks such as geopolitical tensions and higher US tariffs on imports of Thai products have added pressure to the sector. HOW IS NETA'S PROVISION OF AFTER-SALES SERVICE AND BUSINESS CONTINUITY HERE? This question was put to Sun Baolong, head of Southeast Asia business for Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile, but he did not respond. Mr Sun transitioned to this position from his previous role as general manager of Neta Auto Thailand when the company appointed a new board of directors last month, with representatives from the headquarters in China joining the board. The Office of the Consumer Protection Board is investigating Neta's business in Thailand after summoning Neta representatives for talks on how to prevent negative impacts for Thai consumers following a report from a state-owned news agency in China that Neta Auto Thailand's parent filed for bankruptcy. The company's financial shortcomings were brought to the court in China after a creditor sued the company over an unpaid debt of roughly 5.3 million yuan (US$730,000), amid total liabilities exceeding 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion). Mr Sun previously told the Bangkok Post Neta would continue to manufacture and sell Neta cars in Thailand. To alleviate motorists' concerns over maintenance services and the availability of spare parts, Neta opened a new spare parts distribution centre in Nakhon Pathom in May, attempting to improve after-sales services. A shortage of some replacement parts led to delays in repairs, with some repairs taking up to 10 months. It remains unclear how Neta Auto Thailand will address its financial difficulties as the company's executives could not be reached for comment. Bangchan General Assembly, a local partner of Neta, must pay a fine if Neta is unable to meet the battery electric vehicle (BEV) production target, a requirement for participants in the government's EV incentive scheme, according to an observer from the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand (EVAT) who requested anonymity. Neta partnered with Bangchan General Assembly to commence the assembly of BEVs here in March 2024, becoming the company's first BEV plant outside China. Annual production at the plant in Bangkok's Min Buri district is 10,000 units. As of May this year, the company has sold roughly 25,000 cars in Thailand. Bangchan General Assembly, an original equipment manufacturer assembling internal combustion engine cars for many brands, must take some responsibility for the production shortfall as it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Excise Department on Nov 28, 2022, obliging it to produce the amount of BEVs as required by the government, according to the EVAT source. The company risks failing to meet the production target as Neta has not supplied it with the EV components required since its parent encountered cash flow issues. EV manufacturers are required to pay a fine of around 400,000 baht per car to authorities if they fail to meet the government's production requirements, said EVAT president Suroj Sangsanit. These companies are also required to return any subsidies received under the EV incentive scheme to the government, according to Deputy Finance Minister Paopoom Rojanasakul. Neta joined the second-phase EV incentive scheme, dubbed EV3.5, offering passenger car and pickup manufacturers a subsidy of up to 100,000 baht per unit. The government also reduced import duties on completely built-up EVs to a ceiling of 40% for 2024 to 2025, and cut the excise tax to 2% from the original rate of 8%. Participating companies have to produce vehicles domestically to compensate for imported units, at a ratio of two locally produced BEVs for each one imported until 2026. If participants are unable to meet this production target, they must compensate at a ratio of three locally-produced BEVs for each imported vehicle in 2027. In addition to Bangchan General Assembly, Neta dealers may also be in hot water. The dealers lodged a complaint with the Excise Department last month, accusing Neta of "deceiving them into selling cars" after the company failed to pay off debts worth 200 million baht it owed to them, according to media reports. The complainants believe there is little chance of Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile being able to continue its business. HOW DO INSURERS FEEL ABOUT THE SITUATION? Seree Gavinratchatarot, chairman of the motor insurance committee of the Thai General Insurance Association (TGIA), said Neta's service centres in Thailand remain operational, and customers with insurance policies can still file claims and get their vehicles repaired as normal. However, he admitted the bankruptcy of Neta's parent company could affect Thailand's insurance sector, particularly if the company fails to expand its repair centre network. Mr Seree reassured policyholders that insurance companies in Thailand continue to support all Neta owners, even after the parent's collapse in China. If Neta eventually closes its service centres in Thailand, insurers have said they are prepared to arrange alternative EV repair garages for their clients. "We have contracts with general repair garages that understand EV body and structural repairs. These garages are still limited in number, so customers might experience longer waiting times," said Mr Seree, who is also chief operating officer of Tokio Marine Insurance (Thailand). "Those holding Neta policies should not be concerned as claims can still be processed as normal. If Neta service centres are closed, repairs would simply be carried out at alternate garages." Regarding premium calculations for Neta EVs, each insurer will evaluate the risk and pricing individually, he said, as insurers continue to underwrite policies for Neta and other EV brands, although terms and conditions may be adjusted. Insurance premiums are unlikely to increase significantly, as rate adjustments depend on various factors including claim costs and driver behaviour, said Mr Seree. He acknowledged that EV insurance remains unprofitable at this stage, with loss ratios still running high. "The EV insurance market is still in its early stages, and insurers are working to find a sustainable balance," said Mr Seree. Somporn Suebthawilkul, TGIA president and managing director of Dhipaya Insurance, said motor insurance growth this year is likely to stagnate compared with 2024, as the economy shows signs of slowing down. Consumer sentiment towards EVs has started to shift, with more people hesitating on purchases, he said. "The bankruptcy of Neta in China combined with emerging concerns about other major Chinese EV brands could lead to a drop in EV sales in the second half of this year, likely resulting in a corresponding decline in EV insurance premiums."
