Taiwan’s machinery industry is bracing for a sharp fall in exports as hefty US tariffs would interrupt local manufacturers’ sales to their biggest overseas market, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said yesterday.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 32 percent reciprocal tariff on Taiwanese goods, which exceeded expectations, TAMI chairman David Chuang (莊大立) told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday.
The levy on Taiwanese imports is also higher than the tariffs imposed on goods from major rivals Japan, South Korea and the EU at 24 percent, 25 percent and 20 percent respectively, Chuang said.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
Even China, which mainly produces low-end, standard products, received a 34 percent tariff, only 2 percentage points higher than Taiwan, he said.
“The tariff is quite severe and will deal a serious blow to Taiwan’s machinery industry,” Chuang said.
“It will affect customers’ willingness to buy Taiwan’s products. It will also be difficult for the industry to achieve the 5 to 10 percent growth goal in exports this year,” he added.
Photo: CNA
The US last year replaced China as Taiwan’s largest machinery export market, with shipments valued at US$7.19 billion, accounting for 24.6 percent of the nation’s total machinery exports, association data showed.
In the first two months of this year, the US remained the largest buyer of Taiwanese machinery products at US$1.19 billion, accounting for 27.2 percent of the nation’s total exports, the data showed.
The local industry has already been hit in recent years by geopolitical conflicts, the sharp depreciation of the yen and the dumping of low-priced goods from China in overseas markets.
As the tariffs on major competitors are lower than Taiwan’s, coupled with the lack of a free-trade deal with the US, the pressure on local manufacturers is big, Chuang said.
The association has scheduled a board of directors’ meeting on Thursday next week to discuss how the industry could respond to the heavy US tariffs, Chuang said.
Representatives from the International Trade Administration and the Industrial Department Administration would be invited to discuss the matter, he said.
The association also expects the Ministry of Economic Affairs and other government agencies to further communicate with the US government to look for potential tariff exemptions or cuts, he added.
The Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA, 台灣工具機暨零組件公會) yesterday also said the new US tariffs would pose severe challenges to local manufacturers.
Last year, the US was Taiwan's second-largest market for machine tool exports, accounting for about 15 percent of the nation's total machine tool exports, while shipments of key components to the US accounted for about 7 percent of the total, the association said in a separate statement, adding that the hefty tariffs are bound to affect local makers' exports to the US market.
In addition, the association expressed concerns that the US tariffs would especially hit small and medium-sized machine tool and components makers, which are the backbone of the local industry, according to the statement.
The Taipei-based Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce (CNAIC, 工商協進會) yesterday called on the government to immediately activate its crisis response mechanism, conduct a comprehensive review of the potential impacts, and enact necessary measures to support local industries as soon as possible.
In addition, Taiwan must strive for more communication with the US and consider more purchases from the US and more investments there, the CNAIC said in a release.
The government should also provide assistance to affected industries, help accelerate industrial upgrading and market diversification, and improve Taiwan’s international cooperation, it added.
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS