Taiwan has failed to obtain an exclusion from a list of nations whose exports of steel and aluminum to the US are to be targeted by tariffs.
US President Donald Trump has signed proclamations allowing relief from quotas on steel from South Korea, Brazil and Argentina, as well as on aluminum from Argentina, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Companies can apply for product exclusions based on insufficient quantity or quality available from US steel or aluminum producers,” the statement said. “In such cases, an exclusion from the quota may be granted and no tariff will be owed.”
Photo: AFP
Citing national security concerns, Trump in March signed an 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.
US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross at the time said the move was meant to deliver on Trump’s promises to US workers and enterprises.
Taiwan was the ninth-largest source of steel imports to the US last year, while Brazil, South Korea and Argentina were the second, third and sixth-largest respectively, department statistics showed.
Ross on May 31 said arrangements had been made with some countries to have non-tariff limits on their exports of the two metals to the US.
For instance, the arrangement with South Korea was for a quota of 70 percent of average steel exports to the US from 2015 to last year, he said.
Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico took effect on June 1.
In response to the tariffs, the government has encouraged local manufacturers to diversify their export markets beyond the US.
The effort has borne fruit, with overall exports of the affected steel and aluminum products from April to last month increasing 14.5 percent and 21.7 percent annually respectively, the Ministry of Finance said on its Web site on Wednesday.
An increase in steel shipments to several European and Southeast Asian countries in the three months helped offset declining sales of affected steel products to the US, boosting total exports to US$3.92 billion over the period, the ministry said.
The US is normally Taiwan’s largest export destination for the affected steel products, but the latest ministry statistics showed that in the first seven months of this year, the US became the second-largest market for those goods after China.
Due to diverted orders from China, shipments of Taiwanese aluminum products to the US subject to higher tariffs did not decline from April to last month, but instead surged 3.8 times to US$70 million, lifting overall exports of such goods to US$290 million in the period, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said the government would continue talks with the US on an exemption for Taiwanese steel and aluminum exports from higher tariffs, but added that local manufacturers need to pay close attention to import restrictions on such products imposed by the EU and Canada.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-hui
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS