A proposed trade enhancement mechanism is not expected to be discussed at this year’s trade consultations between Taiwan and the EU, which are set to open today in Brussels, according to the office of the EU Trade Commissioner.
The trade enhancement mechanism (TEM), tantamount to a free-trade agreement, was proposed by the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (ECCT) earlier this year.
The office, however, said yesterday that the EU would not rule out the possibility of improving its trade and investment relations with Taiwan under the existing framework.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Sheng-chung (林聖忠), who will head the Taiwanese delegation to the consultations, said that now is not the right time for Taiwan to propose an economic cooperation agreement with the EU.
Lin was in Brussels to attend a seminar titled “EU Trade Policy toward Asia: The Role of Taiwan” sponsored by the European Centre for International Political Economy, an independent think tank, as a prelude to the annual Taiwan-EU consultations.
He said Taiwan would propose increased bilateral cooperation in the fields of customs, quarantine inspection and e-business.
ECCT chairman Nicholas Winsor said in January that the chamber would push for a -Taiwan-EU TEM, and he urged Taiwan to work out reciprocal tariff concession measures with the EU as soon as possible.
According to the ECCT chief, South Korea has concluded a free-trade agreement with the EU that will give 96 percent of South Korea’s products shipped to the EU tariff-exempt treatment.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
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