Thailand's Thaksin says U.S. to toughen trade after election

BANGKOK -- Thailand should prepare for the U.S. to reassess its trade relations regardless of which party wins the presidential election in November, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, founder of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, said Thursday.

"The U.S. will have to look at its trade deficit and what they can do to decrease it," Thaksin said at a Thai news outlet's dinner talk, where he gave a wide-ranging, nationally televised 70-minute speech on the anniversary of his homecoming. "We need to prepare because we have a trade surplus with them."