Thailand Denies Using Military Ties as Tariff Leverage
Thailand's Defence Ministry denied reports it would use military cooperation with the US as leverage in tariff negotiations, confirming the Cobra Gold exercise will proceed as planned despite a 12.5% American tariff on Thai exports.
Thailand has denied a Bloomberg report that the government plans to use military and security cooperation with the United States as leverage in negotiations over US tariffs.
Bloomberg, citing a Thai government official, reported that Thailand was considering including security cooperation in a counter-proposal ahead of the resumption of bilateral trade talks later this month.
The report said the proposal could allow Thailand to review its participation in military activities with the US if higher tariffs caused serious economic damage. It cited the Cobra Gold military exercise as a key area of cooperation that could be affected.
The move would mark an unusual attempt by Thailand to use its decades-old security partnership with Washington as leverage in trade negotiations, which normally focus on economic issues.
The report came after the US announced a 12.5% tariff on most Thai exports under Section 301, a US trade law used to address what Washington considers unfair trade practices.
Thailand recorded a 51.4 billion dollar trade surplus with the US in 2025 and has sought to keep the tariff rate at no more than 19% under an earlier framework.
Thailand has also offered to remove tariffs and accept US standards for imports of beef, lamb and alcoholic beverages, while promising to accelerate legislation banning imports of goods made with forced labor.
However, Thailand's Defence Ministry rejected any link between tariff negotiations and military cooperation.
Rear Admiral Surasunt Kongsiri, a Defence Ministry spokesman, said on Thursday that the Cobra Gold exercise would proceed according to its original plan with no changes.
The statement followed comments by government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek that the government had no policy of linking other issues to tariff negotiations with the US or using them as bargaining chips.
Surasunt said Cobra Gold 2027 will be the 46th edition of the multinational military exercise, jointly organised by the Thai armed forces and the US Indo-Pacific Command, with participation from military forces from partner countries.
The exercise is being conducted under the six-year Cobra Gold plan covering 2025-2030.
A total of 31 countries are taking part in this year's exercise.
The seven main participating countries are Thailand, the US, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.
Four countries — China, India, Australia and Pakistan — are taking part as limited participants.
Ten countries are participating in the Multinational Planning Augmentation Team programme: Bangladesh, Canada, Fiji, France, Italy, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, the Philippines and the UK.
Another 10 countries are participating as observers: Brunei, Germany, Jordan, Laos, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Timor-Leste, Turkey and Vietnam.
Thailand and the US have maintained a longstanding military partnership, with Cobra Gold serving as one of the region's largest and longest-running multinational military exercises.
