The US has once again raised concerns over Taiwan’s ban on its pork and beef products, highlighting the issue in the Office of the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) 2018 Trade Policy Agenda and 2017 Annual Report, and refocusing attention on what has been an obstacle to the two nations signing a free-trade agreement.
In the annual report, the USTR underscored US concerns about Taiwan’s agricultural policies, which it said “are not based upon science.”
That refers to Taiwan’s “zero tolerance” policy on US pork imports containing the leanness-enhancing feed additive ractopamine that was adopted due to lingering concerns about the drug’s safety and strong opposition from local pig farmers.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
One of the main priorities for the US in its trade with Taiwan is to remove “Taiwan’s barriers to US pork products and certain US beef products produced using ractopamine,” the report said.
The use of the feed additive is authorized in the US by the US Food and Drug Administration, with about 60 percent to 80 percent of all US pigs fed ractopamine, which explains Washington’s eagerness to eliminate the ban.
While Taiwan has not amended its ban on ractopamine in pork products, which has been in effect since 2006, it relented on its ban of the chemical in beef products in 2012, allowing imports with a maximum residue level of 10 parts per billion.
Ractopamine remains banned in all 27 EU member states, China and Russia.
Another priority for the US is to remove “other barriers to US beef offal products” in Taiwan, the report said.
On the subject of agricultural policy, the report said the US is also focused on Taiwan’s rice procurement systems, restrictions on potatoes with greening, its regulatory process for setting maximum pesticide residue limits, and market access barriers facing US agricultural biotechnology products and certified US organic products.
The report indicated that the US would continue to work under the US-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement and through the WTO to address the issues, which are important to US stakeholders.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
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
RSS