The Trump administration has suspended $1.3 billion worth of duty-free trade for certain Thai products.

In a letter to Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announcing the decision, Trump said Thailand had not been doing enough to protect worker rights, specifically those laid out in international trade agreements.

The suspension of duty-free status will affect nearly one-third of all Thai exports to the US.

The decision by Trump is yet another hit to Thailand’s export industry, which is already stagnating due to factors such as the strong Thai baht as well as the ongoing US-China trade war.

Thailand currently sits as the second biggest beneficiary of duty-free trades to the US behind India.

The total trade between the two countries totaled $44.5 billion in 2018.

Thailand business lawyers note that the country’s fishing industry could bear the biggest brunt of the suspension as it has already seen its seafood trade to Europe fall drastically in recent years due to multiple unethical practices in the industry that perturbed the EU.

A further hit to seafood exports going to the US could signal alarm bells in the industry.

Read the full story here.