The US and Taiwan have made substantial progress toward a bilateral electronic commerce agreement that would scrap tariffs on digital products, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director William Stanton said yesterday.
“Such an agreement would prevent duties from being imposed on over US$400 million in transactions involving digital products, including software, movies and music, as well as ‘carrier media’ such as disks and magnetic tapes,” Stanton said in a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taipei.
He also said he would prepare for an active agenda that reflects the full scope and ambition of the US economic relationship with Taiwan during the next Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) meeting, to be hosted by Taiwan early January.
Although the TIFA process has led to successes on such issues as intellectual property rights protection and the nation’s accession to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), Stanton urged Taiwan to continue efforts to reduce copyright infringement on campuses while complying with its GPA obligations to open the nation’s public procurement market, worth more than US$20 billion, to US companies.
He also urged Taiwan to ensure fair market access for pharmaceuticals and medical devices by providing attractive pricing and reimbursement policies for the most innovative drugs, therapies and medical device companies.
VISA WAIVER
Meanwhile, Stanton reiterated that adding a mandatory personal appearance to the nation’s passport application process would be necessary before the US could ease its security concerns about Taiwanese passports and include the nation in its Visa Waiver Program.
Next spring, Taiwan will begin to incorporate a personal appearance requirement in the process on a voluntary basis, he said, adding that US-bound Taiwanese visitors had spent approximately US$1.6 billion on travel and tourism there last year.
Taiwan is the US’ seventh-largest trade partner with US$61.6 billion in bilateral trade last year. Taiwanese companies invested US$3.9 billion in the US last year, Stanton said.
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
RSS