Trade tangle for Bush in Thailand

On July 25, Thai police launched a crackdown to rid Patpong of the vendors who line the streets in the evening with their fake goods, shouting out bargains for pirated versions of Hollywood films such as Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada. Another part of this sprawling city, the backpacker areas around Khao San Road, saw similar raids.

The police effort highlights simmering US-Thai trade tensions, which have recently come to a head over Bangkok's moves to produce generic versions of US patent-protected pharmaceutical drugs. Washington recently downgraded Thailand onto its "priority watch list" of countries it estimates habitually violate intellectual property rights (IPR). In a seeming retort, pirated Hollywood DVDs have recently mushroomed across the capital city.

In mid-June, a senior Thai Commerce Ministry official visited the US capital in a bid to get the Bush administration to change its mind, though to no avail. "The country's IPR violation statistics have decreased significantly during the past few years and hence Thailand should be upgraded from the watch list," Siripol Yodmuangcharoen, commerce ministry permanent secretary, was quoted saying in the local press in mid-June.

Bush's visit gives Thai authorities another chance to make their pitch, although government officials said that trade issues are not expected to feature prominently on the visit's agenda. "There may be some informal discussion on trade-related issues," said one official.

 

 

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