The government will continue to negotiate the exemption of Taiwanese steel exports from the EU’s 25 percent tariffs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The provisional safeguard measures concerning 23 categories of steel products came into effect yesterday, using the tariff-rate quota system, the European Commission said in a press release on Wednesday.
It would take the comments from all interested parties into consideration in order to reach its final conclusion, at the latest by early next year, the commission said.
The government would urge the EU to end its investigation into steel tariffs and ask for a quota for Taiwanese steel suppliers, the Bureau of Foreign Trade said in a statement, adding that the bureau would join a public hearing on the subject in September.
Citing trade data, the bureau said Taiwanese shipments of the 23 steel products to the EU last year totaled US$1.3 billion, ranking seventh in the European market.
That represented 8.83 percent of Taiwan’s total steel exports last year, data showed.
“The situation is not that tough [for Taiwanese steelmakers], compared with the US’ protectionist measures,” Taiwan Steel and Iron Industries Association (台灣鋼鐵工業同業公會) chairman Lin Horng-nan (林弘男) said by telephone, referring to US President Donald Trump’s order under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum.
Lin, who also serves as president of government-backed China Steel Corp (中鋼), said the EU’s 25 percent duties would only be imposed once imports exceed the average imports over the past three years and would be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.
“In addition, the temporary tariffs posed by the EU would only remain in place for up to 200 days,” he said.
In related news, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) yesterday said that the EU’s tariffs on Chinese electric bicycles would have limited effect on Giant Manufacturing Co Ltd (巨大機械), Taiwan’s largest bicycle supplier, which has factories in China and the Netherlands.
The EU yesterday imposed tariffs of between 21.8 and 83.6 percent on all e-bikes from China, and Giant was subject to a rate of 27.5 percent, Reuters reported.
“As far as we know, the company is capable of relocating its manufacturing bases from China to the Netherlands or Taiwan [to avoid the tariffs],” Shen said.
Following a flexible business strategy, Giant earlier this month said it plans to spend 15 million euros (US$17.4 million) to build a plant in northern Hungary, which would be its second manufacturing base in Europe.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
Industrial production expanded 22.31 percent annually last month to 107.51, as increases in demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove demand for locally-made chips and components. The manufacturing production index climbed 23.68 percent year-on-year to 108.37, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first four months of this year, industrial and manufacturing production indices expanded 14.31 percent and 15.22 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed. The growth momentum is to extend into this month, with the manufacturing production index expected to rise between 11 percent and 15.1 percent annually, Department of Statistics
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
RSS