US President Donald Trump’s administration is considering using rarely invoked US trade laws to fend off China’s demands that foreign companies share their technology in return for access to the country’s vast market, a person familiar with US discussions said yesterday.
The administration is discussing the use of Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, which empowers Washington to launch an investigation into China’s trade practices and, within months, raise tariffs on imports from China, or impose other sanctions, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been made public.
The investigation would be focused on China’s alleged “forced technology transfer policies and practices,” the person said, adding that the Trump administration could move to launch such an investigation this week.
Photo: AFP
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The deliberations come as the administration signals a harsher stance on trade than it took in the first six months of Trump’s presidency.
US and other Western governments and business groups accuse Beijing of blocking access to promising industries by requiring foreign companies to hand over proprietary technologies in exchange for being allowed to operate in the nation.
Such requirements are seen as an attempt by Beijing to nurture its own competitors.
Trump set aside complaints about market access and currency when he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in April in hopes Beijing would help pressure North Korea to end its nuclear weapons development.
However, tensions bubbled up last month at a US-Chinese dialogue where US Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin blamed China’s US$347 billion trade surplus with the US last year on Chinese “government intervention in its economy.”
US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, in a commentary in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, outlined a slew of grievances against China and the EU that he said contributed to the global US trade deficit in goods last year of US$725.5 billion.
“Both China and Europe also bankroll their exports through grants, low-cost loans, energy subsidies, special value-added tax refunds and below-market real-estate sales, among other means,” Ross wrote.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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