US President Donald Trump’s “America first” approach is likely to affect Taiwan’s export performance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Saturday in response to the US president’s inauguration speech.
Economists urged the government to come up with countermeasures against possible effects of the Trump administration, which has been leaning toward protectionism, as the US is one of the largest buyers of Taiwan-made goods.
Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) appeared cautious about the US trade policy after Trump pushed the “America first” theme in his inaugural address on Friday.
Lin said that although Trump needs some time to implement his new trade policy, which is expected to give Taiwanese exporters a buffer against US protectionism, Taiwan cannot afford to ignore the possible changes in business ties between the US and China, where Taiwanese firms such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) have built up broad protection sites to penetrate the US market.
After Trump’s inauguration, the White House announced its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade pact championed by former US president Barack Obama. Taiwan has been keen to join the TPP trade bloc, but Gordon Sun (孫明德), director of the Economic Forecasting Center at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院), said that things have changed and that Taiwan should seek a new approach in an era without the TPP.
Taiwan has been pushing its “new southbound policy,” so it is necessary for the nation to link this policy and its trade ties with the US, Sun said.
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘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 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,
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
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