The Ministry of Economic Affairs is seeking to enter into discussions with Chinese officials under the auspices of the WTO regarding China's steel dumping allegations and punitive tariffs on Taiwanese steel imports.
An official from the ministry told the Taipei Times yesterday that the ministry had been tasked by the Cabinet to prepare such a request despite continued resistance by China to Taiwanese overtures for direct discussions on trade-related issues.
"We are trying hard to find channels within the WTO to communicate with China," said the official on condition of anonymity.
The move comes almost a month after Beijing began six-months of curbs against nine varieties of steel products exported from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
The action is aimed at safeguarding its domestic producers.
A quota system will impose additional taxes ranging between 7 percent and 26 percent once imported steel volume reaches a predetermined level.
The action is permissible under WTO rules if a member country can prove that increased volumes of imports constitute serious harm to domestic industries.
According to local Chinese-language media reports, requests from Japan and South Korea for official consultations with China over the issue have been accepted.
The ministry official, however, said Beijing does not want to address Taiwan as an equal, even under the auspices of the WTO
When China initiated a probe on alleged cold-rolled steel-dumping of producers from South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Taiwan, Li Weiyi (李維一) in March, the spokesman for Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, said the matter was an "internal affair."
While China is not obliged to initiate contact with the government of a member nation when initiating a probe against steelmakers -- although the steelmakers themselves must be notified -- member governments can request government-to-government consultations.
According to the WTO's Anti-Dumping Agreement, members must be consulted by any other member that initiates an anti-dumping investigation.
Article 6 of the agreement states: "To ensure the transparency of proceedings, authorities are required to disclose the information on which determinations are to be based to interested parties and provide them with adequate opportunity to comment."
The agreement also "establishes the rights of parties to participate in the investigation, including the right to meet with parties with adverse interests."
China requested and was granted consultations with the US government in March over increased US tariffs on steel imports.
Taiwan is now entitled to invoke the same WTO articles to request talks with China. These are Article XXII:1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; Article 4, Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes; and Article 14, Agreement on Safeguards.
CHIP WAR: Tariffs on Taiwanese chips would prompt companies to move their factories, but not necessarily to the US, unleashing a ‘global cross-sector tariff war’ US President Donald Trump would “shoot himself in the foot” if he follows through on his recent pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese and other foreign semiconductors entering the US, analysts said. Trump’s plans to raise tariffs on chips manufactured in Taiwan to as high as 100 percent would backfire, macroeconomist Henry Wu (吳嘉隆) said. He would “shoot himself in the foot,” Wu said on Saturday, as such economic measures would lead Taiwanese chip suppliers to pass on additional costs to their US clients and consumers, and ultimately cause another wave of inflation. Trump has claimed that Taiwan took up to
SUPPORT: The government said it would help firms deal with supply disruptions, after Trump signed orders imposing tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico The government pledged to help companies with operations in Mexico, such as iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), shift production lines and investment if needed to deal with higher US tariffs. The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday announced measures to help local firms cope with the US tariff increases on Canada, Mexico, China and other potential areas. The ministry said that it would establish an investment and trade service center in the US to help Taiwanese firms assess the investment environment in different US states, plan supply chain relocation strategies and
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such