The Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday that a senior US trade official visited Taiwan last week to discuss economic and trade issues, but it was difficult to say whether bilateral trade talks would resume next month on the basis of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
Tim Stratford, assistant trade representative for China affairs at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, met last week with Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Liang Kuo-hsin (梁國新) to discuss signing a bilateral investment agreement and amending regulations on US beef imports, a ministry official said.
Because the US is concerned about the legislature’s stance on US beef imports, it was difficult to say whether US-Taiwan trade talks would reopen next month, the official said.
The delegation led by Stratford, who is responsible for developing and implementing US trade policy for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Mongolia, also discussed rice imports, pesticide residues and standards for fire-proof construction materials, the official said.
The US hoped that Taiwan would follow international standards on building material imports, but not Japanese standards because US building materials are sometimes rejected under them, the official said.
The US might seek to resolve that issue with Taiwan within the WTO framework, the official added.
The TIFA talks, agreed to in 1994, have provided a significant channel for Taiwan-US dialogue on trade and economic issues. However, the annual talks, which are usually rotated between the two nations, have been suspended since 2007.
On Thursday, Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of North American Affairs, told reporters that last week’s visit was meant to pave the way for the next round of TIFA talks.
Tseng said a wide range of matters could be discussed in the next round of talks, but agreements on bilateral investment and the avoidance of double taxation were the most pressing matters.
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