Taiwan and the US completed two days of high level economic talks in Washington on Wednesday, but did not reach agreements to end any of the major trade disputes between the two countries, chief Taiwanese negotiator John Deng (
The talks, under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), were held at the offices of the US Trade Representative (USTR) and covered a wide range of issues, including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, intellectual property rights (IPR) and investment.
While the two sides made progress toward settling differences in these areas, no agreements resulted, said Deng, the chief representative of Taiwan's Office of Trade Negotiation and Taiwan's former No. 2 man in Washington.
Nevertheless, he said, he was satisfied with the session, the sixth between the two sides since the TIA was initiated in 1994.
"I am not disappointed," he said.
"I think the results are very positive. This is not the occasion to sign documents. All the agreements nowadays will involve a lot of experts. We cannot produce them in two days. But the important thing is using this opportunity to make sure we are working on the same goal, and we assured that. That we achieved, that is important," Deng said.
Overall US-Taiwan trade relations, the two sides agreed, "are healthy" he said, adding that it was agreed to expand the TIFA agreement to include more issues in the future. He did not give details.
On the piracy issue, much time was taken up by US concerns about illicit copying of material by students over the Education Ministry's TANet network at universities.
Lu Mu-lin (
"The US side was very satisfied with our efforts with respect to establishing a specialized IPR court, and passage of laws to handle internet infringement," Deng told the Taipei Times.
Despite this, the two sides apparently made no progress toward removing Taiwan from the USTR's so-called watch list of countries with serious piracy problems, under the USTR-administered so-called Special 301 trade law.
Varying degrees of progress were made on the three areas that were expected to be primary areas of attention: double taxation, Taiwanese government procurement, and investment access and protection.
On the investment issues, the two sides made "good progress," aided by four video conferences held before the Washington session to try to iron out problems, Deng said.
While the two sides continue to work toward an agreement, the negotiators set no timetable for reaching a final agreement, he said.
"We think we understand each other better now," he said.
On government procurement, the two sides agreed to "continue to work under the WTO framework," Deng said.
The double taxation issue was not discussed at any length, he said.
The one agreement the two sides did make was in the agricultural area, where they agreed to set up a "consultative agricultural mechanism" to allow the two sides to include more agricultural issues in their discussion with the aim of solving differences under that mechanism.
On pharmaceuticals, the two sides agreed to "work to fight counterfeit drugs" and to continue their dialogue on the pricing of medicines in Taiwan. Two working groups will carry out that work.
The meeting did not decide on a date for the next meeting, which, if tradition holds, will be in Taipei sometime next year.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS