Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday outlined five measures to tackle rules of origin circumvention, which he said is one of four key areas in Taiwan-US tariff negotiations.
The measures are stronger monitoring of goods from China, communicating with Taiwanese businesses, establishing a blacklist of violators, imposing stricter penalties and applying anti-dumping tools, Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei.
Stricter monitoring would target goods redirected to Taiwan and those rerouted through Taiwan to the US, Kuo said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
It is intended to prevent trade activities that could “affect the US’ judgement of Taiwan,” he added.
“Origin laundering” refers to the deceptive practice of companies misrepresenting a product’s country of origin to make it appear as though it was manufactured somewhere else, often to avoid tariffs or trade restrictions.
The minister made the comments along with Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) and Deputy Minister of Finance Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) as the government aims to address how Taiwan plans to sustain competitiveness in its agriculture, aquaculture, livestock and critical manufacturing sectors in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff policy.
Photo: CNA
Asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) whether the government was adequately prepared to weather economic turbulence triggered by Trump’s new tariff policy, Kuo said that as many exporters to the US face a uniform 10 percent tariff rate, Taiwan remains “highly competitive” due to its industrial strengths.
Taiwan and the US maintain “mostly complementary” trade in technology and other sectors, he added.
As the Presidential Office and the Cabinet started consultations with industry groups yesterday afternoon, Kuo said the government would continue listening to the private sector to identify areas for improvement.
At a separate meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said that uncertainty surrounding US tariffs remained, despite Trump’s decision overnight to pause planned tariffs on goods from more than 75 countries for 90 days, excluding China.
Apart from the great uncertainty for the stock market, a trade war and the hefty tariffs imposed by the US and China on each other is also not good for the global economy, Yang said.
“The only way for Taiwan to deal with this uncertainty is negotiation,” cable TV station USTV quoted Yang as saying.
Replying to a question raised by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) whether there is room for upward revisions to the nation’s consumer price index (CPI) and core CPI this year, Yang said the central bank still believes consumer prices would remain stable in the face of a potential tariff hit.
It is too early to judge whether the local stock market is about to enter a bear market following days of turmoil caused by Trump’s tariff policy, Yang said, adding that the market’s long-term outlook would reflect the fundamentals.
The central bank would assess whether to increase Taiwan’s holdings of US Treasury bonds in its foreign exchange reserves, Yang said.
“At present more than 80 percent is ideal,” he said.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-hui
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS