US Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Thomas Donohue yesterday called for strengthening bilateral trade with Taiwan and expanding US business interests in the Asia-Pacific region in an address to the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taipei.
“I’m traveling halfway around the world to promote trade because this is where half of the world’s economy now operates,” an AmCham press statement quoted Donohue as saying.
“To successfully compete in Asia, the United States needs to show new leadership on trade. Expanding ties with Taiwan has long been and must continue to be a critical component of our work in the region,” he said.
Donohue’s speech to AmCham came after he spent a week at the APEC meetings in Singapore, where he urged world leaders to expand trade between the US and the Asia-Pacific region.
With more than US$16 billion in cumulative investment, the US remains the largest foreign investor in Taiwan, AmCham said in the statement.
“In recent years, Taiwan has made some important progress in creating a stronger environment for business by improving intellectual property protection and acceding to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement,” Donohue said. “But obstacles remain to even closer economic and commercial ties between the two economies. Progress is needed in the areas of regulatory transparency and the growing penchant of regulators to invent unique-to-Taiwan solutions that make it harder for companies to do business on the island.”
The US Chamber, one of the world’s largest business federations, representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations, viewed negotiations on a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with Taiwan as the foundation for expanding commercial ties between the two trade partners.
“Full implementation of the protocol that would reopen Taiwan’s market to US beef would be a significant step forward,” Donohue said.
“This would advance the goal of deepening the robust commercial relationship that has long been critical to both economies,” he said.
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