Hopes that Taiwan could sign a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the US could dim after the US elects a new senate and president in November, but the two sides could still explore cooperation opportunities in the energy market, the head of the most powerful business group involved in Taiwan trade said yesterday.
Paul Wolfowitz, who took the helm of the US-Taiwan Business Council in May, told a luncheon in Taipei that he supported stronger ties between the two sides, but expressed doubt there would be progress in the FTA talks after the general elections in the US.
“There isn’t much progress about the matter and the picture may turn bleaker as the next congress is likely to be less sympathetic,” said Wolfowitz, former deputy secretary of defense in the George W. Bush administration.
The US will elect a new president and congress members in November, with pundits predicting that the ruling Republican Party will lose seats in congress.
Wolfowitz said he saw opportunities for bilateral cooperation in exploring the energy market.
The two sides could join forces and explore the solar energy sector, which will become critical over the coming years, he said.
He said he admired the new Taiwanese government for improving cross-strait ties and expressed hope that investment deregulation would be extended to the technology sector.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
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