
Trump Tariffs Could Deepen Thailand Rice Sector Woes
NAKHON PATHOM: Thai farmer Daeng Donsingha was already worried for her family of nine when rice prices in the world's second-largest exporter of the staple crashed this year after India resumed exports.
Now, she's also fretting over the tariffs unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump, which could slash demand for Thai rice in its most valuable foreign market and create turmoil in an export industry worth billions of dollars.
'The problem is that the price of rice is very low, while other costs such as fertilisers and farmland rent is higher,' the 70-year-old farmer said, after selling her harvest at a rice mill in central Thailand. 'I'm losing money.'
Thailand is among Southeast Asian nations hardest hit by Trump's proposed measures, facing a 36% tariff on goods unless ongoing negotiations are successful before the U.S president's moratorium on the tariffs ends in July.
'If the U.S. imposes the tariff, our jasmine rice will be too expensive to compete,' said Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
Last year, Thailand shipped 849,000 metric tones of rice to the United States, mainly of its most expensive fragrant jasmine variety, worth 28.03 billion baht ($735 million), according to the association.
In all, Thailand exported 9.94 million tons of rice in 2024, worth 225.65 billion baht ($6.82 billion), with the U.S. as its third-largest market by volume, but most lucrative.
Potential U.S. tariffs would stall exports and hand the advantage to Thailand's main regional competitors, like Vietnam, where prices are significantly lower, said Chookiat, whose association is targeting exports of 7.5 million tons this year.
'From $1,000 per ton, the price would rise to $1,400 to $1,500,' he said. 'Importers will shift to Vietnamese jasmine rice, which is only $580 per tonne.'
Rice from Vietnam is cheaper because production costs are lower, farmers grow different varieties of the crop and bring in multiple harvests.
'Won't survive'
Farmers in Thailand, Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, have already been on edge because of a 30% drop in domestic prices after India resumed exports in September. The country accounted for 40% of world rice exports in 2022 before the ban was introduced.
Analysts say there is no room for Thailand to cut prices to compete.
'Our production costs are high, while our yield is low,' said Somporn Isvilanonda, an independent agricultural economist. 'If we dump prices, farmers won't survive.'
The industry and farmers are pinning their hopes on negotiations between a Thai delegation led by Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira and the United States.
Rice shipments, however, are already sliding. Overall exports fell 30% in the first quarter as countries delayed buying decisions and India's return boosted supply, according to the exporters association, forecasting a similar decline over the next three months.
The concessions Thailand is proposing to counter Trump, including bringing tariffs of U.S corn down from 73% to zero, would also hurt Thai farmers, according to industry groups.
A flood of cheap imported corn could further depress prices of broken rice and rice bran, which are extracted during rice milling and used in animal feed, said Banjong Tangchitwattanakul, President of the Rice Millers Association.
On April 8, four farm groups, including rice millers, petitioned the government to block imports of U.S. corn and soybean meal, arguing they would squeeze prices of domestic crops for animal feed, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
The government has pledged that any concession it makes in negotiations with the United States will not undermine domestic industries.
But for farmers like Daeng, decisions made halfway across the world could jeopardise her livelihood.
'My children have been following the news,' she said, 'They were telling me that 'we won't be able to survive, mum, if things go ahead like this.''
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New Straits Times
25 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
'Trump's brain' behind migration crackdown
FOR Stephen Miller, the architect of United States President Donald Trump's hardline migration policy, the protests in Los Angeles were nothing less than the frontline of a "fight to save civilisation itself". Hyper-loyalist Miller, 39, has carved out a niche as Trump's most powerful and hawkish adviser on the Republican's signature issue of immigration. A combative presence on the White House driveway, Miller is frequently rolled out in public to double down on the president's comments in front of the cameras and frequently spars with reporters. But the sharp-suited adviser's comments on Los Angeles — which echo hard-right talking points about the decline of the West as it faces an "invasion" of migrants — underscored that the topic is not just political for him, but existential. His fingerprints have been all over the White House's unprecedented assertion of its right to use presidential power to pursue its agenda, often using centuries-old or rarely cited laws to deport migrants. And Miller, who is formally Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Adviser, is at the sharp end of things, too. It was Miller who, according to the Wall Street Journal, issued US Immigration and Customs Enforcement with orders last month to step up its work after the number of daily deportations under Trump fell below those carried out by Joe Biden's administration last year. Those orders led to the immigration raids on a Home Depot in Los Angeles that triggered clashes between protesters and federal agents — and Trump's decision to send in thousands of troops. Miller has since taken to social media to battle Democrats who accuse Trump of authoritarianism. "We've been saying for years this is a fight to save civilisation. Anyone with eyes can see that now," he said on X on Sunday. A few days earlier, he set out his right-wing worldview more explicitly as he pushed for Trump's new "big, beautiful" spending bill, which contains provisions for migration. "We will be debating these matters over the ruins of the West if we don't control migration," he wrote on June 4. Critics say such comments echo the far-right "replacement theory" about migration undermining Western society. Indeed, during Trump's first term, Miller's hardline stance made him something of an outlier. As a young firebrand, Miller was one of the architects of the so-called "Muslim travel bans" in Trump's first presidency, which later ran into legal difficulties after they were poorly drafted. Miller largely avoided the chaotic feuding that engulfed Trump's first White House, resulting in somewhat more moderate voices winning out on immigration policies. Miller, however, remained loyal, and stuck by his boss even as Trump's first term ended in the disgrace of the US Capitol attack on Jan 6, 2021. In the second Trump administration, Miller's views have become mainstream. "I call Stephen 'Trump's brain'," Republican former House speaker Kevin McCarthy told the New York Times just before Trump's inauguration. Miller was the driving force in particular behind the use of an obscure 200-year-old wartime law to deport undocumented migrants — and a vocal defender when that crackdown saw a man wrongly deported to El Salvador. He also outraged Democrats when he said on May 9 the White House was "looking into" suspending habeas corpus, which would prevent migrants targeted for mass deportations from appealing for their right to appear in court. One blip, however, came when Miller and his wife Katie found themselves caught up in the split between Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk. Katie Miller had been a senior adviser and spokesman in Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. But the couple now find themselves, professionally speaking, on opposite sides of the break-up between the world's richest person and its most powerful.


The Star
35 minutes ago
- The Star
Barbie-maker Mattel teams up with OpenAI, eyes first AI-powered product this year
The Mattel company logo is pictured at the entrance of the Montoi plant in the municipality of Escobedo, Mexico March 15, 2022. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril (Reuters) -Mattel has teamed up with OpenAI to develop toys and games with artificial intelligence, and expects to launch its first AI-powered product later this year, the Barbie-maker said on Thursday. The company, which also makes Hot Wheels and Uno cards, plans to "bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences with an emphasis on innovation, privacy, and safety," it said. The move comes at a time when toy manufacturers are battling muted demand backdrop as consumers rein in spending to brace for the economic fallout of U.S. President Trump's shifting trade policy. Mattel will also incorporate OpenAI's advanced AI tools like ChatGPT Enterprise into its business operations to enhance product innovation, the company said. "With OpenAI, Mattel has access to an advanced set of AIcapabilities alongside new tools to enable productivity, creativity, and company-wide transformation at scale," said OpenAI operating chief Brad Lightcap. Over the last year, Mattel has relied on producing films, TV shows and mobile games based on its products such as Hot Wheels and Barbie to offset a slowdown in its core toy business. Last month, Mattel withdrew its annual forecast and said it would raise prices on some products sold domestically in a bid to mitigate higher supply chain costs. (Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)


The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Trump hails troop deployment as California readies legal battle
LOS ANGELES: US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Los Angeles was 'safe and sound' for the past two nights, crediting his deployment of thousands of troops to quell anti-deportation protests, as California prepared for a legal showdown over his unprecedented move. With protests spreading across the United States, a night-time curfew has been in place in its second-largest city with authorities tackling vandalism and looting that scarred a few city blocks. 'Our great National Guard, with a little help from the Marines, put the L.A. Police in a position to effectively do their job,' Trump said on Truth Social, adding that without the military the city 'would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years.' The mostly peaceful protests ignited last week over an escalation in efforts to apprehend migrants in the country illegally, but there were also pockets of violence, including the burning of self-driving taxis and hurling stones at police. Trump deployed several thousand National Guard troops and 700 active-duty marines over the objections of Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom, the first such action by a US president in decades. Trump charged that the governor 'had totally lost control of the situation.' 'He should be saying THANK YOU for saving his ass, instead of trying to justify his mistakes and incompetence,' Trump added. In Spokane, in the northwest state of Washington, another night curfew was declared after police arrested more than 30 protesters and fired pepper balls to disperse crowds, officials said. In Seattle, Washington state's biggest city, police arrested eight people after a dumpster was set on fire and projectiles were thrown. Three people were arrested in Tucson, Arizona, following clashes with police, the Arizona Republic reported. Protests also took place in Las Vegas, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Chicago, Atlanta, and Boston, according to CNN. 'Democracy is under assault' Trump won the election last year partly on promises to combat what he claims is an 'invasion' by undocumented migrants. 'If I wasn't there... Los Angeles would have been burning to the ground,' he told reporters Wednesday Around 1,000 of the 4,700 troops Trump deployed were actively guarding facilities and working alongside ICE agents, said Scott Sherman, Deputy Commanding General Army North, who is leading operations. The rest -- including 700 active duty Marines -- were mustering or undergoing training to deal with civil disturbances, he said. The Pentagon has said the deployment will cost taxpayers $134 million. Newsom, a Democrat widely viewed as eying a 2028 presidential run, has accused Trump of escalating the confrontation for political gain. He warned earlier this week that the militarization would creep beyond his state's borders, saying 'democracy is under assault right before our eyes.' Lawyers for California were expected in court on Thursday to seek an order blocking troops from accompanying immigration officers as they arrest migrants. Trump administration lawyers called the application a 'crass political stunt.' Military parade A nationwide 'No Kings' movement was expected on Saturday, when Trump will attend a highly unusual military parade in the US capital. The parade, featuring warplanes and tanks, has been organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army but also happens to be the day of Trump's 79th birthday. The Trump administration is painting the wave of protests as a violent threat to the nation, requiring military force to support regular immigration agents and police. But Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the crisis had been manufactured in Washington. 'A week ago, everything was peaceful in the city of Los Angeles,' she told reporters. 'Things began to be difficult on Friday when raids took place... that is the cause of the problems. 'This was provoked by the White House.' Arrests by masked and armed men continued Wednesday. A pastor in the LA suburb of Downey said five armed men driving out-of-state cars grabbed a Spanish-speaking man in the church's parking lot. When she challenged the men and asked for their badge numbers and names, they refused. 'They did point their rifle at me and said, 'You need to get back,'' Lopez told broadcaster KTLA.