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As the title of this video suggests, we are asking the question “did the Thai-American Amity Treaty, the US-Thai Treaty of Amity if you will, did it expire in 2005? Why is this question being asked? Well the question is being asked because I got an email on it. It's something that comes up from time to time especially among Europeans. There is a bit of, ‘animosity’ might be too strong a word, but perhaps maybe a little jealousy associated with the fact that per the terms of the US-Thai Treaty of Amity, Americans can own their companies in Thailand 100% notwithstanding the provisions of the Foreign Business Act.

I went out into the ether of the internet, I found a couple of websites that are still saying this; it's erroneous by the way and I will get into the analysis as to why. But basically, going back into 2003, the United States and Thailand announced their intention of ending The Amity Treaty but it was based on a condition precedent. It was based on the promulgation of a US-Thai Free Trade Agreement. That never came about and they said that they wanted to have it done, in I believe it was from January 2005. As of January 1^st, 2005, there would be no more Amity Treaty but there would be a Free Trade Agreement at the time under that government that they were dealing with up to that point. That did not occur. For those who are unaware that clearly did not happen. The Treaty was not abrogated because the condition precedent was not fulfilled which was and by condition precedent, what we are saying is “the preceding conditions” so what needed to happen before the abrogation could be triggered was the FTA being promulgated which it was not and so therefore the agreement as it stood to that point, continued. So you will see stuff on the internet that says “oh this is all over and done with and on top of that Thailand is in the World trade Organization da, da, da, da:; that doesn't matter. That's not part of the analysis when it comes to the Amity Treaty itself.

With regard to World Trade Organization, I would maybe argue that they are probably going to make history with the likes of the League of Nations when it is all said and done sitting here in October of 2023 just looking around at my sort of surroundings as it were right now, I am not overly concerned about the World Trade Organization per se. Now that said, again what's the status of the Treaty? Well as I said, they were planning to overhaul it; they were planning to end it in favour of this FTA which never happened. Because that never happened the Treaty continues and we even have affirmative confirmation of this here recently. Most notably and this is on the US Embassy website, th.usembassy.gov titled:

United States Thailand Communiqué on Strategic Alliance and Partnership. Media Note, Office of the Spokesperson, July 10, 2022. The following statement was signed by Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken of the United States and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Don Pramudwinai of the Kingdom of Thailand in Bangkok, Thailand on July 10, 2022.

Under the heading: Recognizing Our History and Building Our Future

Quote: "As the United States and Thailand celebrate our 190th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2023, we recognize two centuries of special trust and collaboration built through the 1833 Treaty of Amity and Commerce, our Treaty Alliance established through the 1954 Manila Pact, the 1962 Thanat-Rusk Communiqué, and the 1966 Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations." Still in effect today. Quoting further: "Forged by shared history and common values, and anchored by our collective commitment to build resilient, inclusive democracies and advanced human rights, our two countries reaffirm," reaffirm, they are reaffirming all of the aforesaid commitments; "our commitment to our strategic alliance as sovereign equals, with steadfast commitment to the principles of mutual trust, mutual respect, and mutual interest." And there is a whole lot more in there. You can go and read in there.

But long story short, the Treaty is reaffirmed; there is no question that it is good law, especially bilaterally between the United States and Thailand. And the United States has specific provisions for the ratification of Treaties separate and apart from standard law. Other countries don't have this but a Treaty has to be ratified by the United States Senate and signed off by the President in order to be considered the law of the land per Article 6 of the US Constitution. It becomes incorporated law of the United States, on par arguably with the Constitution itself; it is sort of like a special amendment regarding what other nationality it pertains to, in this case Thailand.

So again, for those that are worried about how the Treaty works, if it's enforced, it is very much enforced; it has been reaffirmed by both Nations and we continue to see benefits arising for many of our American clients here in Thailand as a result of the provisions of the US-Thai Treaty of Amity.