
Thailand has submitted latest trade proposal to United States, finance minister says
Washington has threatened to impose a 36% levy on imports from Thailand if a reduction cannot be negotiated before July 9, when a 90-day pause capping tariffs at a baseline of 10% for most nations expires.
The United States accounted for 18.3% of Thailand's shipments last year, or $54.96 billion. Washington has put its deficit with Thailand at $45.6 billion.
"We heard their feedback and what what they were especially interested in and we adjusted it," said minister Pichai Chunhavajira, who returned from Washington last week following talks.
He said there could be other adjustments in future.
Thailand's top three exports to the United States last year were computers, teleprinters and telephone sets, and rubber products. Its top three imports from the U.S. were crude oil, machinery and parts, and chemicals.
Thai state-owned energy giant, PTT Group (PTT.BK), opens new tab in June signed an agreement to procure 2 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas per year from Glenfarne's Alaska LNG project over a 20-year term. The $44 billion project has been by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Pichai earlier said Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, opens new tab could expand by just over 1% this year due to the impact of U.S. tariffs.
Thailand's has struggled with weak consumption, soaring household debt, slowing tourism, trade uncertainty and potentially steep U.S. tariffs.
Last month, the central bank forecast economic growth of 2.3% this year, after last year's growth of 2.5% lagged peers in the region.
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The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Don't forget': mural brings attention to the January 6 rioters pardoned by Trump
Audrey Southard-Rumsey pushed a flagpole into a police officer's chest. Ralph Celentano shoved an officer over a ledge. Pauline Bauer accused Democrats of stealing an election and trafficking children and demanded: 'Bring Nancy Pelosi out here now. We want to hang that fucking bitch.' These are just three of the stories told on the Wall of Shame, a public installation by artist Phil Buehler that launched on 4 July in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York. The giant red, white and blue mural aims to document and highlight the stories and alleged crimes of more than 1,575 people involved in the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol who were pardoned by Donald Trump. The project is the third in what might be called Buehler's art against autocracy trilogy, a series of collaborations with the non-profit Radio Free Brooklyn. It began in 2020 with the Wall of Lies, a 50ft mural displaying more than 20,000 lies told by Trump during his first term in office. The second installation, the Wall of Liars and Deniers, was a mural displaying the 381 Republican politicians running in the 2022 midterm elections who denied Democrat Joe Biden's legitimacy as president. 'Artists can have more power than Fox News to turn this around,' Buehler says in a Zoom interview from his Brooklyn studio, reflecting on the struggle for truth in the Trump era. 'Boy, would Magaland hate it if culture, music and art [pushed back]. You've got to double down the other way and start flooding this zone with art as Trump tries to erase it.' The Wall of Shame is a 50ft-long, 10ft-tall outdoor mural featuring the pardoned Trump supporters, colour-coded to distinguish their actions: violent rioters appear in red, those who damaged property are shown in blue, and the remaining individuals are depicted in white. The combined effect resembles a Star and Stripes that has imploded. Buehler spent about 100 hours gathering the rioters' stories, charges and sentences from research by National Public Radio (NPR) and formatting them to be printed on waterproof vinyl and hung outdoors on a fence. NPR had about a thousand photos of the rioters, so Buehler enlisted a friend to track down a further 500 pictures; only about 10 are now missing. He adds: 'Artists can do it in a different way. I'm just presenting facts. It's almost seducing people with a visual that they then approach and go, that's pretty cool, what is that? Then you can read these things and we're benefiting from NPR's reputation having factchecked this.' The rioters are easy to dismiss as an amorphous mob; the mural is a reminder that each is a person with their own career, family and personal demons. Guy Reffitt, 48, from Wylie, Texas, allegedly told his family that he had taken his gun to the US Capitol on January 6 and said to his child: 'If you turn me in, you're a traitor. And you know what happens to traitors. Traitors get shot.' But Pamela Hemphill, 68, from Boise, Idaho, refused Trump's pardon and expressed remorse, describing the police as 'heroes' and the rioters as 'very dangerous people'. Buehler reflects: 'I could see patterns. It's very tribal. Trump was successful in almost stealing red, white and blue as their symbol. They all call themselves patriots on this wall. They all bought into the big lie that the election was stolen. 'Their social media posts and messages that were part of the record when they were indicted show that they believed a lot of the other lies like Pizzagate – we've got to stop the pedophiles taking over. They're in a media bubble. They believe it and they're in it together and they did see themselves as patriots.' The project aims to foster solidarity and courage among those who oppose authoritarianism. Buehler recounts how the defacement of the Wall of Lies by the far-right group Proud Boys galvanised the community, leading them to cut out the Proud Boys graffiti and spraypainted hearts all over it and raise money for a bigger mural. 'How are we going to survive the next four years? This runs through your head. Then what can I do? Community gives you courage. Marching in those parades gives you courage to fight against this. We're using this symbolic art piece to rally around a different flag.' The Wall of Shame – installed at the same location as the Wall of Lies – was provoked by Trump's decision on his first day back in office to grant clemency to about 1,500 individuals charged or convicted in connection with the January 6 insurrection, including people found guilty of assaulting police officers. Democrats called the move an affront to justice and democracy. Yet the controversy has been almost forgotten in the fast-paced news cycle, overwhelmed by a deluge of Trump drama from Elon Musk to Signalgate to tariffs to protests in Los Angeles to military strikes on Iran. But Buehler insists: 'We look at that as the first of his steps in his march toward authoritarianism. 'OK, let's pardon all the people that rioted.' 'It's interesting what we've seen since. He sent thousands of national guard and marines to LA for mostly peaceful protests. I don't know if it's ironic or telling that, during the January 6 riots, he watched them on television on the other side of DC and didn't do anything and then pardoned them. A hundred and forty cops got hurt and now this year [FBI director] Kash Patel is saying, 'Touch a cop, go to jail.' I guess the unsaid part is, 'Touch a cop, go to jail unless it's for Trump and what Trump wants.'' The artist adds: 'He's since followed it up with some illegal deportations. He disobeys the courts constantly. He's turned the White House into a car dealership showroom with Tesla. And now he's starting a war [against Iran] without the authorisation of Congress. I guess we're trying to highlight that was the first thing. Don't forget that one: the pardon of the rioters. That was his first act of trying to emulate Putin and become an authoritarian leader.' Trump has been waging war on reality for a decade, conjuring a mirror world in which up is down and black is white. He has described the January 6 rioters as patriots and martyrs while dismissing those who protested against immigration enforcement raids in LA as 'insurrectionists'. When he faced criminal investigations he blamed the 'weaponisation' of the justice department, while any negative media coverage is routinely branded 'fake news'. Rob Prichard of Radio Free Brooklyn, who initially suggested that Buehler tackle the January 6 pardons, finds something Orwellian in Trump's attempts to rewrite history and dominate the cultural space. The president has seized control of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and ordered the removal of so-called 'improper, divisive or anti-American ideology' from Smithsonian Institution museums, forcing the resignation of the director of its National Portrait Gallery. Speaking from Park Slope, Brooklyn, Prichard, 69, says via Zoom: 'As a nation we are as close to autocracy as we've ever been. It seems like fascism is basically a war on consensus reality and we need to put a pin in those points where it's so obvious that it's not true. 'Trump's entire political career is predicated on a demonstrable lie, saying Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and because we never called him out on it properly in the first place, it just continues. If you can get away with it you play the hand again. Steve Bannon [a rightwing podcast and former Trump adviser] is flooding the zone. We need to flood the zone too but with the truth.' The colour-coding of the mural is intentional, designed to reclaim a national symbol from what the creators perceive as its co-option by Trump supporters. Prichard adds: 'We're not ceding the red, white and blue. We claim it and we claim the true meaning of representative democracy. 'I have hope because for one thing, autocracy and fascism is predicated on violence and the threat of violence. Both violence and the threat of violence are untenable. They can't be. You just can't maintain them forever and it has to break. The fever has to break eventually and either there's complete submission or we liberate ourselves. I don't see complete submission. That's part of our DNA.' Prichard does not use words such as fascist lightly. His 91-year-old mother is German and was forced to join Hitler's youth movement when she was seven years old. 'She remembers it. She is deathly afraid of Trump. If she were 10 years younger, she would probably move to Germany permanently.'


The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump steps up trade wars with 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea
Donald Trump unveiled plans to step up his trade wars on Monday, announcing Japan and South Korea will soon face US tariffs of 25% in a significant escalation of his controversial economic strategy. The US president, who indicated that he would notify as many as as 15 countries of new, higher rates on Monday, posted copies of letters addressed to the leaders of Japan and South Korea on social media. Trump said the rates are set to go into effect August 1. The letters were largely identical and informed the leaders that there will be no tariffs if their countries 'decide to build or manufacture product within the United States'. Trump also threatened higher tariffs if the countries place additional tariffs on US exports. 'If for any reason you decide to raise your tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto that 25% we charge,' he wrote. Trump initially announced a slate of so-called reciprocal tariffs in April, on what the White House dubbed 'liberation day', with some countries facing rates as high as 50% While he paused those tariffs for 90 days amid market turmoil, this reprieve is do to expire on Wednesday, 9 July. Trump officials initially suggested they would strike dozens of deals with key economies during the pause, but have since indicated that they would use an extension to continue talks. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said last month the administration was aiming to wrap up negotiations by Labor Day on 1 September. The US has so far settled deals with three countries: the UK, China and Vietnam, and Bessent said there are over a dozen countries the US is still trying to negotiate with. The new August deadline for countries without a deal amounts to a further three-week reprieve, but also triggers fresh uncertainty for importers because of the lack of clarity around the tariffs. As the July deadline has approached, Trump's officials have been racing to broker deals. Over the weekend, one European diplomat said the US may have to 'show muscle if the deal is not good enough'. The White House also reached an impasse in negotiations with Japan, despite initial optimism. Trump on Friday said it is 'much easier to send a letter' and that the offers are 'take it or leave it'. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 sank by almost 0.9% after Trump posted his first letters. Though the US stock market has largely recovered from the uncertainty around Trump's trade war, the US dollar still remains weakened after months of trade fights. At the beginning of this year, the dollar had its worst six months in over 50 years, falling 10.8% since the start of 2025.

Finextra
35 minutes ago
- Finextra
The Walls Within: Why Organizations Cling to Data Silos in the Age of AI: By Erica Andersen
The promise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is tantalizing: smarter decisions, streamlined processes, and unprecedented insights. The promise is transformative. From predicting consumer behavior to automating complex tasks, AI offers a tantalizing glimpse into a future of unprecedented efficiency and innovation. Yet, despite this allure, organizations are often hesitant to embrace the full power of AI across the entire enterprise. Instead, we see a persistent trend: the deliberate creation and maintenance of data silos, where information remains walled off, and AI's access is carefully restricted. This isn't necessarily a sign of technological backwardness or a lack of vision. Rather, it's a complex tapestry woven with threads of business strategy, legal compliance, technical limitations, and ingrained organizational culture. This article delves into the multifaceted reasons behind this phenomenon, exploring why organizations are choosing to keep their AI contained within the familiar confines of their data silos. The Security Fortress: Protecting Data in a Vulnerable World At the heart of this reluctance lies a deep-seated concern for data security and privacy. Organizations are acutely aware of the potential for catastrophic data breaches, and the implications are severe. Protecting Sensitive Information: The risk of exposing sensitive information like Personally Identifiable Information (PII), financial records, trade secrets, and intellectual property is a constant threat. Restricting access is a fundamental strategy to minimize the "attack surface" and reduce the likelihood of a breach. This includes not only protecting against malicious actors but also accidental disclosures, which can have significant legal and reputational consequences. The risk of exposing sensitive information like Personally Identifiable Information (PII), financial records, trade secrets, and intellectual property is a constant threat. Restricting access is a fundamental strategy to minimize the "attack surface" and reduce the likelihood of a breach. This includes not only protecting against malicious actors but also accidental disclosures, which can have significant legal and reputational consequences. Compliance is King: Navigating the Regulatory Minefield: Regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), LGPD (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados - Brazil), and industry-specific mandates demand robust data privacy and security measures. Maintaining data silos is often seen as a practical way to simplify compliance by limiting the scope of data that needs to be protected. Regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), LGPD (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados - Brazil), and industry-specific mandates demand robust data privacy and security measures. Maintaining data silos is often seen as a practical way to simplify compliance by limiting the scope of data that needs to be protected. Unauthorized Access: A Primary Threat: Data silos create physical and logical barriers, making it significantly harder for unauthorized individuals or external actors to access and potentially misuse sensitive data. This includes implementing robust access controls, multi-factor authentication, and regular security audits. Data silos create physical and logical barriers, making it significantly harder for unauthorized individuals or external actors to access and potentially misuse sensitive data. This includes implementing robust access controls, multi-factor authentication, and regular security audits. Ethical Usage: Maintaining Control and Addressing Bias: Organizations want to ensure their data is used ethically and in accordance with their policies. Restricting access to AI models is a key mechanism for enforcing this control. This includes: Bias Detection and Mitigation: AI models can perpetuate biases present in the training data. Silos allow for careful curation of data and the application of bias detection and mitigation techniques. Explainability and Transparency: Organizations must be able to explain how their AI models make decisions. Silos can facilitate the development of explainable AI (XAI) by limiting the complexity of the data and the scope of the models. Accountability and Responsibility: Clearly defined roles and responsibilities are crucial for AI governance. Silos can help establish clear lines of accountability for data usage and model performance. Organizations want to ensure their data is used ethically and in accordance with their policies. Restricting access to AI models is a key mechanism for enforcing this control. This includes: The Competitive Edge: Data as a Strategic Weapon Beyond security, the desire to protect competitive advantage and intellectual property is another driving force behind data silo maintenance. Proprietary Data: The Secret Sauce: Data can be a valuable asset. Organizations may want to keep their unique data private to maintain a competitive edge. AI models trained on distinctive datasets can be a significant differentiator. This requires careful consideration of data licensing, access controls, and the potential for reverse engineering of AI models. Data can be a valuable asset. Organizations may want to keep their unique data private to maintain a competitive edge. AI models trained on distinctive datasets can be a significant differentiator. This requires careful consideration of data licensing, access controls, and the potential for reverse engineering of AI models. Trade Secrets: Guarding the Jewels: The data used to train AI models can reveal valuable insights and trade secrets, offering competitors a roadmap to replicate innovations. Restricting access helps prevent reverse-engineering and exploitation. This includes implementing strict non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and protecting the intellectual property rights associated with the AI models and the underlying data. The data used to train AI models can reveal valuable insights and trade secrets, offering competitors a roadmap to replicate innovations. Restricting access helps prevent reverse-engineering and exploitation. This includes implementing strict non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and protecting the intellectual property rights associated with the AI models and the underlying data. Data Leakage: Preventing Spills: Data silos act as barriers against data leakage, preventing valuable proprietary information from falling into the hands of competitors or external parties. This includes implementing robust data loss prevention (DLP) measures and monitoring for suspicious data activity. The Governance Imperative: Maintaining Control and Quality Organizations also prioritize control and governance over their data, recognizing the crucial role these play in the success of AI initiatives. Data Quality: A Foundation for Success: Organizations want to maintain control over the quality of the data used for AI training. Silos allow for better data governance and quality control within each department or function. This includes implementing data validation rules, data cleansing processes, and data governance frameworks. Organizations want to maintain control over the quality of the data used for AI training. Silos allow for better data governance and quality control within each department or function. This includes implementing data validation rules, data cleansing processes, and data governance frameworks. Accuracy and Reliability: The Pillars of Trust: Data accuracy and reliability are critical for AI model performance. Silos can help ensure that the data used for training is accurate and reliable, reducing the risk of biased or inaccurate results. This includes implementing data quality metrics, data lineage tracking, and data auditing processes. Data accuracy and reliability are critical for AI model performance. Silos can help ensure that the data used for training is accurate and reliable, reducing the risk of biased or inaccurate results. This includes implementing data quality metrics, data lineage tracking, and data auditing processes. Responsible AI: Managing the Lifecycle: Restricting access to data allows organizations to better manage the development, deployment, and monitoring of AI models. This helps ensure that models are used responsibly and ethically. This includes: Model Monitoring: Continuously monitoring AI model performance and identifying potential issues, such as drift or bias. Model Versioning: Tracking different versions of AI models and the associated data used for training. Model Auditing: Regularly auditing AI models to ensure compliance with regulations and ethical guidelines. Restricting access to data allows organizations to better manage the development, deployment, and monitoring of AI models. This helps ensure that models are used responsibly and ethically. This includes: The Technical Hurdles: Navigating the Complexities Beyond the strategic and legal aspects, technical and practical considerations also contribute to the prevalence of data silos. Integration Challenges: A Complex Undertaking: Integrating data from multiple sources can be incredibly complex and time-consuming. Organizations may lack the necessary infrastructure, skills, or resources to effectively integrate data across silos. This includes challenges related to data format compatibility, data semantics, and data governance. Integrating data from multiple sources can be incredibly complex and time-consuming. Organizations may lack the necessary infrastructure, skills, or resources to effectively integrate data across silos. This includes challenges related to data format compatibility, data semantics, and data governance. Data Standardization: A Formidable Task: Data from different sources may be in different formats or use different standards, making integration a challenging undertaking. This requires implementing data standardization processes, data transformation tools, and data governance frameworks. Data from different sources may be in different formats or use different standards, making integration a challenging undertaking. This requires implementing data standardization processes, data transformation tools, and data governance frameworks. Scalability and Performance: Managing the Volume: Integrating and processing large volumes of data can strain infrastructure and impact performance. Silos can help manage data volume and improve performance. This requires implementing scalable data storage solutions, data processing frameworks, and data optimization techniques. Integrating and processing large volumes of data can strain infrastructure and impact performance. Silos can help manage data volume and improve performance. This requires implementing scalable data storage solutions, data processing frameworks, and data optimization techniques. Legacy Systems: The Weight of History: Many organizations have legacy systems and infrastructure that are not designed for easy data sharing, adding another layer of complexity. This requires modernizing legacy systems, implementing data integration solutions, and gradually migrating data to more modern platforms. The Human Factor: Navigating Organizational Dynamics Finally, organizational culture and politics play a significant role in the decision to maintain data silos. Departmental Autonomy: Protecting Territories: Departments or business units may want to maintain their autonomy and control over their data, viewing it as a valuable resource. This requires fostering a culture of collaboration, promoting data sharing best practices, and establishing clear data governance frameworks. Departments or business units may want to maintain their autonomy and control over their data, viewing it as a valuable resource. This requires fostering a culture of collaboration, promoting data sharing best practices, and establishing clear data governance frameworks. Fear of Misuse: A Valid Concern: Some individuals or teams may be hesitant to share their data due to concerns about how it will be used or the potential for negative consequences. This requires establishing clear data usage policies, implementing data access controls, and providing training on responsible AI practices. Some individuals or teams may be hesitant to share their data due to concerns about how it will be used or the potential for negative consequences. This requires establishing clear data usage policies, implementing data access controls, and providing training on responsible AI practices. Lack of Trust: A Barrier to Collaboration: There may be a lack of trust between different departments or teams, making them unwilling to share data. This requires building trust through open communication, transparency, and collaborative projects. There may be a lack of trust between different departments or teams, making them unwilling to share data. This requires building trust through open communication, transparency, and collaborative projects. AI Anxiety: A Shift in Power: A department might fear that sharing data will lead to a loss of control or power, or that AI will replace human workers. This requires addressing these concerns through clear communication, providing training on AI technologies, and demonstrating the benefits of AI for both individuals and the organization as a whole. Highlighting how AI can augment human capabilities and improve job satisfaction is crucial. In Summary: A Delicate Balance The desire to maintain data silos in the context of AI adoption is a complex issue driven by a combination of factors, including data security, competitive advantage, regulatory compliance, technical challenges, and organizational culture. While data silos can offer benefits in terms of control and security, they can also hinder innovation and limit the potential of AI. Organizations must carefully weigh these competing considerations when developing their AI strategies, striving to find a balance that maximizes the benefits of AI while mitigating the risks. The future of AI adoption lies in finding innovative ways to navigate these complexities, fostering collaboration while safeguarding the valuable assets that organizations hold within their walls. This includes exploring strategies such as: