The central bank is expected to leave key interest rates unchanged at its upcoming quarterly policymaking meeting scheduled for March 20, amid economic uncertainties due to US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, economists said on Sunday.
Wu Meng-tao (吳孟道), director of the sixth research division at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院), said Trump’s tariff threats are likely to dominate the central bank’s quarterly meeting as they could send ripples through global financial markets, and what the central bank has to do is address likely uncertainties.
After Trump took office on Jan. 20, he signed executive orders to impose tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico, while threatening to introduce “reciprocal tariffs” without exceptions.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
Trump has also repeatedly claimed Taiwan “stole” the semiconductor business from the US, raising speculation of potential tariffs on Taiwanese chips.
Therefore, the central bank is expected to maintain its monetary policy to allow it more flexibility to take on possible volatility in financial markets, Wu said.
“Judging from the information I have, Trump is likely to impose reciprocal tariffs in April at the earliest and Taiwan is unlikely to escape them,” he said. “When Trump comes up with concrete tariff hikes, a global tariff war could follow. Before that, the central bank should stay steady and prepare itself for the impact.”
However, there is concern that Taiwan Power Co (台電) could raise electricity rates next month, which would push up inflation, as the state-run utility is under pressure due to massive accumulated losses and a cut in its budget by the legislature, he said.
While a potential electricity rate hike would push up inflation, a tariff war could hurt global trade, send commodity prices lower and undermine the world economy, which could offset the effect of rising inflationary pressure caused by higher power rates, National Central University Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development director Dachrahn Wu (吳大任) said.
In the wake of Trump’s tariff hikes, the central bank could consider how to boost the economy rather than how to slow down inflation, he said.
Until US President Donald Trump’s return a year ago, when the EU talked about cutting economic dependency on foreign powers — it was understood to mean China, but now Brussels has US tech in its sights. As Trump ramps up his threats — from strong-arming Europe on trade to pushing to seize Greenland — concern has grown that the unpredictable leader could, should he so wish, plunge the bloc into digital darkness. Since Trump’s Greenland climbdown, top officials have stepped up warnings that the EU is dangerously exposed to geopolitical shocks and must work toward strategic independence — in defense, energy and
For the second year in a row, a Brazilian movie has wowed international audiences and critics, securing multiple Oscar nominations and drawing fresh interest in the Latin American giant’s film industry. Experts say the success of The Secret Agent, which has won four Oscar nominations, a year after I Am Still Here won Brazil its first Oscar, is no fluke, with a bit of a push from the country’s political climate. “This is neither a coincidence nor a miracle. It is the result of a lot of work, consistent policies, and, of course, talent,” Ilda Santiago, director of the Rio International Film
AI SPLURGE: The four major US tech companies have lost more than US$950 billion in value since releasing earnings and outlooks, while equipment makers were gaining Four of the biggest US technology companies together have forecast capital expenditures that would reach about US$650 billion this year — a flood of cash earmarked for new data centers and all the gear within them. The spending planned by Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp, all in pursuit of dominance in the still-nascent market for artificial intelligence (AI) tools, is a boom without a parallel this century. Each of the companies’ estimates for this year is expected either near or surpass their budgets for the past three years combined. They would set a high-watermark for capital spending
IShowSpeed, a 21-year-old African-American influencer, has raced a cheetah, leapt with Maasai warriors and drawn huge crowds in a month-long tour of Africa that has also busted cliches about the continent. The YouTube and Twitch star’s tour, which started on Dec. 29 last year, took him to 20 countries, showing his tens of millions of followers a different side of Africa as he visited a diamond mine in Botswana, discovered Ethiopia’s rich cuisine and attended the Africa Cup of Nations football final in Morocco. IShowSpeed — born in Cincinnati, Ohio as Darren Jason Watkins Jr. — is one of the most followed
RSS