The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) yesterday called for continued talks between Taiwan and the US on the long-stalled Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) after the relationships between the two sides turned tense over the US beef imports.
AmCham said it made the point in a letter dated Feb. 5 to Deputy US Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis, urging the early scheduling of the bilateral trade negotiations between the two countries.
Marantis is expected to lead a US delegation to the next round of TIFA talks in Taipei, though the annual talks have been suspended since mid-2007.
In a speech given to the Center for Strategic International Studies in Washington late last month, however, Marantis said it was difficult to say when the bilateral TIFA talks would be resumed after Taiwan’s Legislature decided to ban imports of US ground beef and bovine offal, the state-run Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Jan. 29.
In addition, the US would consider appealing to the WTO to resolve the beef issue with Taiwan, can quoted Marantis as saying at the time.
In the AmCham letter, which was signed by the organization’s chairman, Alan Eusden, and president Andrea Wu (吳王小珍), AmCham expressed its hope “that the recent legislative action in Taiwan on the question of US beef imports, however regrettable, will not cause continued delay in the resumption of TIFA talks.”
The beef controversy and TIFA talks should be “de-linked,” AmCham said in a press statement yesterday. AmCham hopes the two countries can move forward on discussions of other important trade and investment issues, the statement said.
TIFA talks normally take place on an annual basis. The Ministry of Economic Affairs said earlier that the next round of talks might focus primarily on bilateral investment and the avoidance of double taxation.
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