Recent meetings between U.S. business interests and the Thai Ministry of Public Health painted a grim picture for the American reaction to Thailand’s broad-based imposition of compulsory licenses for patented pharmaceutical products. Given the proliferation of free trade agreements (concluded or under negotiation) between the United States and various competitors in the region—including Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia—and also considering Vietnam’s accession to the WTO, better opportunities are in the pipeline for regional trade relations with the United States and Thailand’s loss will be its neighbors’ collective gain.