Pichai explained to foreign media that Pheu Thai Party's policies can resolve Thailand's economic problems. He pointed out that producing nine millionaires daily increases state tax revenue. He confirmed that Pheu Thai negotiated reducing Trump's tariffs to 19% and maintains good relations with the United States.
On 5 Feb 2026, Mr. Pichai Naripthaphan told Channel News Asia at the Pheu Thai Party that the party's economic policy can solve Thailand's economic problems. The urgent priority is addressing debt, especially household debt which is nearly 90% of GDP and heavily burdens citizens. Although previous Pheu Thai governments revived Thailand's economy—with exports growing 12.93% in 2025 and investment surging to 1.87 trillion baht, the highest ever—the public has not yet felt immediate improvement due to the high debt levels. Therefore, debt relief is an urgent priority, targeting help for five groups of people. Successfully resolving these debts would greatly expand the economy. Exports and investment must continue growing strongly; if sustained for several years, Thailand’s economy will surely recover.
Regarding the creation of nine millionaires a day, this policy is a smart way to increase VAT revenue without raising VAT rates. Many countries have succeeded with this approach, especially Taiwan, which has increased VAT collection by 15-20% annually. Other parties have proposed receipt lottery concepts requiring much higher spending, which people do not understand. But the 'nine millionaires a day' policy is immediately clear to the public and believed to strongly resonate with them.
On labor wages, Pheu Thai believes that if Thailand can develop high-value industries such as semiconductors, PCBs, EVs, electronics, clean energy, data centers, AI, and others, labor wages will naturally rise. As Thailand becomes a high-income country, workers’ incomes will increase significantly.
Regarding Trump tariffs, it is well known that the Pheu Thai government negotiated reducing these tariffs from 36% to 19%, matching competitor countries. This allowed Thai exports to maintain growth, with September expanding 19% and December 16.8%. Overall, exports in 2025 grew 12.93%, up from 5.4% in 2024. Credit goes to the Ministry of Commerce officials, including the permanent secretary, department heads, and their teams who worked hard to successfully negotiate these reductions.
With the strong Thailand-U.S. relationship, Mr. Pichai met USTR Jamieson Greer twice and had long-standing relationships with several U.S. congress members. He believes Pheu Thai can conduct successful trade negotiations with the U.S. and hopes to further reduce Trump tariffs in the future. He expressed surprise that the current Commerce Minister's visit to the U.S. showed no meetings with USTR Jamieson Greer, nor meetings with Maros Sejkovic, EU Commissioner for Trade, during a European visit. Since Mr. Pichai personally met and scheduled talks with Sejkovic, he questioned how successful negotiations could occur without such meetings. Therefore, he assured confidence that Pheu Thai will successfully negotiate as it did previously with EFTA countries.
