Thailand and the United States have a mutual defense pact, and participate in the longest-running joint military exercises in the world. But Thailand has become the most recent country to align itself economically with China, Russia, Iran, and other countries deemed unfriendly to US and European interests.

Officials in Thailand recognize the need to proceed carefully, but deliberately, away from dependence on the US, and join other fast-growing economies. And like Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia, Thailand runs large trade surpluses with the rest of the world, ex-BRICS. Thailand enjoys growing FX reserves in US dollars and Euro.

Thailand admits that BRICS nations are not close to developing a single currency, to be used by bloc members. They do see tokenization as a way forward, however, with central banks issuing tokens to provide trade guarantees between member states. And by setting up a system of banks outside SWIFT to sweep overnight FX surpluses generated by their trade with G7 countries, the risks of sanction and asset seizure go away.

Resources and links:

US Census Bureau, Foreign trade balances US - Thailand
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/...

EU Trade balance of Thailand
https://www.statista.com/statistics/3....

The Diplomat, Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: Thailand’s Bid to Join BRICS
https://thediplomat.com/2024/05/have-...

Nation Thailand, Joining BRICs would lead to opportunities for Thailand
https://www.nationthailand.com/thaila...

Internal Revenue Service, Thailand tax treaty documents
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/intern...
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/thai...

Army Times, Joint Exercise Cobra Gold 2024 begins in Thailand
https://www.army.mil/article/274107/j...

EU trade with Russia - latest developments
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statist...

Visual Capitalist, China displaces US as the EU's largest trading partner
https://licensing.visualcapitalist.co...

Statista, BRICS and G7share of global GDP
https://www.statista.com/chart/30638/...

Statista, Consumer markets growth
https://www.statista.com/chart/25990/...