Sun, Sep 15, 2002 - Page 4 News List

US attitudes on a trade agreement with Taiwan

Bruce Stokes, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank, specializes in international trade and US economic relations with Asia and Europe. He has also conducted an assessment of the future of the multilateral trading system. During a visit to Taiwan last week, Stokes sat down with `Taipei Times' staff reporter Wu Yi-ju to give his views on a US-Taiwan free-trade agreement

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TT: In addition to FTAs and the "go south" policy, what suggestions do you have for the Taiwanese government to accomplish trade diversification?

Stokes: One policy would be to look to countries where the US will be making FTAs in the future. The US would like to do FTAs in central America, with Guatemala, with Honduras and with Costa Rica and so on. It seems to me that the Taiwan government could encourage investments in those countries, because you will get the benefits of free-trade treatment in the US. In addition, it will also stimulate trade with central America. It is a way to piggy-back on things that the US is doing and thrive from the dynamism of the US market in the event that an FTA with the US does not materialize.

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