Taiwanese trade officials are directing their lobbying efforts at the US business community in an attempt to drum up support for the early signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said on Sunday.
Chen made the remarks while talking about the government's efforts to secure an FTA with the US the day after his arrival in New York on a transit stop, after taking part in a second round of FTA negotiations between Taiwan and El Salvador and Honduras in San Francisco.
As the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement came into effect this year, the government is working to sign FTAs with Central American states as part of its efforts to help Taiwanese manufacturers make inroads into the US market, Chen said.
Chen said that many countries, including Taiwan, are eager to enter FTAs with the US, but the US government is focusing its efforts on WTO talks and the formation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). As a result, whether the US will sign FTAs with other trade partners will depend on whether bilateral trade relations are close enough.
Because of the complex Taiwan-US-China political relations, Taiwan has failed to make much progress in its FTA talks with the US, Chen said. However, he claimed that the government's determination and efforts to secure a Taiwan-US FTA "will not be affected" by any unfavorable conditions.
Noting that the Ministry of Economic Affairs has made FTA talks with the US a top priority for this year, Chen said Taiwan is doing everything possible to win the US industrial and business sector's support for signing an FTA.
Touching on the second round of FTA talks with El Salvador and Honduras, Chen said the talks went smoothly and that this was Taiwan's first simultaneous FTA consultation with two nations.
Following a series of intensive trilateral negotiations in San Francisco, trade officials from Taiwan, El Salvador and Honduras have reached a consensus on all FTA provisions, Chen said, adding that after the completion of a third round of FTA talks in Honduras in September, the three countries will be able to ink FTAs by the year's end.
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
RSS