Shifting Ties: Thailand’s Balancing Act amid New Geoeconomic Realities

The US-hosted Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation—or APEC—CEO Summit took place last week in San Francisco, bringing together world leaders and top CEOs to discuss the future of trade and growth in the 21-member bloc.

For Thailand, it was yet another opportunity to advocate its investment potential to the rest of the world: Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavasin’s week-long trip was packed with meetings with top US tech firms—including Tesla, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, among others.

This strategy is not new. For decades, Thailand’s trade and investment flows have grown hand-in-hand with regional and global integration. Nevertheless, while its total trade has quadrupled since 2000, Thailand now trades mostly with Asia. The US remains its top export market, but China has risen to become the second largest.

On the investment side, Japan still accounts for the largest share of foreign direct investment (FDI) due to its dominance in conventional auto manufacturing. However, China and ASEAN have expanded their investment stakes rapidly, while shares of traditional partners like Europe and the US have fallen.
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