WASHINGTON — The United States has added Thailand to its currency “Monitoring List,” citing concerns that the country meets two of the Treasury Department’s key criteria used to assess potential foreign exchange intervention.
In its January 2026 report, Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States, released on 29 January local time, the US Treasury said Thailand qualified for the watch list due to a large global current account surplus and a significant bilateral trade surplus with the United States.
The move places Thailand alongside China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland. All other countries on the list have been under monitoring since June 2025. Thailand was previously on the list in the post-Covid period between 2020 and 2021.
The Treasury said it is stepping up scrutiny of countries’ exchange-rate practices, including intervention to counter both currency depreciation and appreciation against the US dollar. However, it stressed that no major trading partner was labelled a “currency manipulator” in the latest report.
Under US practice, countries are assessed against three criteria: a bilateral trade surplus with the United States of at least US$15 billion; a global current account surplus exceeding 3% of GDP; and persistent, one-sided net foreign exchange purchases of at least 2% of GDP.
Thailand met two of the three thresholds. The report said Thailand recorded a trade surplus in goods and services with the United States of US$54 billion over the four quarters ending June 2025, exceeding the US benchmark. Thailand’s global current account surplus stood at 3.8% of GDP, also above the 3% threshold.
The Treasury said countries meeting two of the three criteria are automatically added to the Monitoring List.
Source: Khaosod English