Myanmar junta looks to use trade deals to re-engage with US

Myanmar’s military regime is making fresh attempts to re-engage the United States through commercial channels, even as Western sanctions continue to isolate the country’s leadership and key business interests. In an official statement, the junta’s trade promotion body under the Ministry of Commerce said it held talks on April 29 with a US-based food distributor on exporting Myanmar rice to the American market. The discussions focused on regulatory requirements and plans to send samples, followed by a trial shipment of one container, the statement said. The meeting, conducted online, included junta officials, Myanmar diplomats, and representatives from the Myanmar Rice Federation. While the volume of potential exports was not disclosed, the move signals a broader effort by the regime to re-establish economic links with the US. Since the February 2021 coup, Washington has imposed sweeping sanctions targeting military leaders and military-linked conglomerates, sharply reducing bilateral economic engagement. Trade between the two countries has fallen significantly, from around US$1.3 billion in the 2019–2020 fiscal year to just over $700 million in 2023–2024, according to official data. The regime has relied heavily on support from China to weather the storm that it unleashed when it seized power, but now appears to be increasingly keen to diversify its external relations and improve its standing with Western countries. Analysts say the latest outreach is less about immediate economic gain and more about political signalling. “This is essentially an attempt to open a channel through business-to-business engagement,” said an economic analyst who asked not to be named. “Even under sanctions, there are sectors that are not restricted. The regime is trying to create the impression that it still has access to the US market.” He added that any rice exports resulting from the talks would likely be limited in scale and have minimal economic impact, but could still serve a symbolic purpose. Another analyst told Myanmar Now that the junta’s broader objective is to gain international legitimacy by engaging in formal trade relationships. “International trade involves contracts and recognition under global norms,” he said. “Even small deals can be used to project legitimacy. That may be more important to the regime than actual profits.” Recent developments suggest a pattern of incremental engagement efforts. In late February, a Myanmar delegation led by the rice federation signed an agreement with US counterparts to import American soybean meal, according to the US Embassy in Yangon. A month later, the embassy’s chargé d’affaires, Douglas Sonnek, attended the Yangon International Mobility Show, highlighting support for American companies such as Ford Motor Company. At the same time, the junta has pursued lobbying efforts in Washington. A recent filing revealed that a long-time ally of US President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, has been hired to help rebuild ties between the regime and the United States. Observers say these parallel efforts—commercial outreach, diplomatic engagement, and lobbying—reflect a coordinated strategy aimed at easing the junta’s international isolation. This has raised concerns among human rights groups, which say that the situation in Myanmar remains dire, despite the regime’s recent elections and efforts to rebrand itself as a civilian administration. “For all intents and purposes very little has changed in Myanmar and the country remains under a kind of de facto military rule, with states of emergencies still in place, unfair trials, and thousands of people arbitrarily detained behind bars,” said Joe Freeman, the Myanmar researcher at Amnesty International. He added, however, that there seems to be little awareness in the Trump administration of the actual state of affairs in the country. “A recent statement from the Department of Homeland Security, for instance, pointed to Myanmar’s stabilisation as a main reason behind terminating Temporary Protected Status for Myanmar nationals in the US,” said Freeman. “If new lobbying reinforces these inaccurate and deeply misleading messages and feeds into an updated Myanmar strategy by the US, which has yet to be finalised by the State Department, it could have very negative consequences for the protection and promotion of human rights in Myanmar.”

Myanmar junta looks to use trade deals to re-engage with US

Analysts say the regime is hoping the deals, however small in scale, will help restore relations amid ongoing sanctions

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