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Too early for US to sign free trade agreement: official

It is too early to talk about the signing of a free trade agreement between Taiwan and the US as the stances on both sides on relevant concerns are still hugely divided, a top trade official said yesterday.

Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬), director-general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said that at present he does not see any intent on the part of the US to begin even assessing or talking about signing a free trade agreement with Taiwan.

Trade officials were scheduled to meet in Taipei on June 27 and June 28 for bilateral talks on issues of mutual concern. However, the meeting has been sensationalized by the media as a prelude paving the way for the two countries to eventually sign a free trade agreement.

As a result, according to Huang, his US counterparts informed him recently that big differences between the two countries' stances on many issues remain and that the US has not yet assessed the possibility of signing a free trade agreement with Taiwan.

The US officials said the Taiwanese media should not have sensationalized the meeting, Huang said.

He said that officials from the two countries are expected to exchange views during the meeting at the end of the month on issues including intellectual property rights protection, Taiwan's rice imports, pharmaceutical data exclusivity and pricing system, as well as Taiwan's opening of its fixed broadband infrastructure market. He added that there is a possibility that the meeting may be postponed.

According to Huang, Taiwan and the US had indeed made attempts to make preparations for signing a bilateral free trade agreement, which is why the two countries began talks on a trade and investment framework agreement (TIFA). The TIFA was never signed and the Taiwan-US TIFA talks have stalled as a result of differences between the two sides on many vital issues, Huang said.

Huang noted, however, that although the US has stressed that it is not prepared to talk about a free trade agreement with Taiwan, the Bureau of Foreign Trade may formally ask the US to resume the TIFA talks first if the upcoming meeting is fruitful.

Meanwhile, a CNA reporter based in Geneva quoted the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) as having reported that although the Executive Yuan has made signing a free trade agreement with the US a top priority in efforts to bolster trade with friendly countries, the US suspects that Taiwan has political rather than economic motives in pushing for the signing of an agreement.

A reporter from the BNA who visited Taiwan recently reported this week that the building of free trade relations between Taiwan and the US is entwined with complicated political wrangling involving not only the two sides but also China.
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