Taiwan remains on the latest US report on foreign trade barriers, released on Monday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), just days before US President Donald Trump is set to announce reciprocal tariffs.
The section of the report on Taiwan, which remained largely similar to last year’s, raised concerns over barriers to imports of meat and automobiles, as well as questions over copyright issues.
Given the report’s timing, it could add to pressure on Taiwan, as well as other listed countries, as the office said in a statement that the findings "underscore President Trump’s America first trade policy and [his] 2025 trade policy agenda."
Photo: CNA
Although not yet confirmed, Taiwan is expected to be among the main targets of upcoming US reciprocal tariffs imposed on states referred to as the "dirty 15" by US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
Other potential targets include Japan, the EU and China.
The report, submitted to Trump and the US Congress, said that despite a 2009 protocol reopening Taiwan’s market to US beef, Taipei continues to impose barriers on US beef and beef byproducts.
After detecting a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 2003, Taiwan banned US beef, although the 2009 protocol reopened imports.
The USTR report said that some US beef offal products, although permitted under the protocol, remain subject to port-of-entry inspections in Taiwan, which it described as "onerous" and "not science-based."
Taiwan’s labeling requirements and maximum residue limits for ractopamine — a feed additive used in US pork — "inaccurately implied that there is a food safety concern with US pork products," it said.
The report also expressed dissatisfaction with Taiwan’s restrictions on imported US vehicles that meet US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
The standards provide a level of safety equivalent to that of the UN Economic Commission for Europe’s 1958 agreement, which Taiwan has adopted, the report said.
The Ministry of Communications and Transportation introduced a cap on such imports in 2008 and reduced it to 100 units per model in 2021, before cutting it to 75 units per model in 2023, the report said.
Such a reduction could hinder US automakers from attracting consumers by periodically introducing unique new models, the report said.
It also raised concerns over online piracy, particularly unauthorized access to textbooks and copyrighted materials through on-campus digital platforms.
Despite several attempts by Taiwan to change the Copyright Act (著作權法), the USTR said that the pending amendments had loopholes and had made slow progress in being implemented, including some submitted to the legislature in October 2017.
In Taipei, the Office of Trade Negotiations yesterday said that the government would continue to communicate with the US.
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