Talks between Taiwan and the US under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) will likely not be held this year, as the administration of US President Donald Trump has yet to fill the vacant deputy trade representative posts, Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) has said.
The talks have been conducted by the two nations’ deputy trade ministers since 2004, said Deng, who also heads the Cabinet’s Office of Trade Negotiations.
However, three deputy representative positions at the Office of the US Trade Representative are vacant, and while the Trump administration has named people to take those positions, they have yet to be confirmed by the US Congress, Deng said.
Even if it quickly approves the nominations, “there will not be time to hold [the TIFA talks] this year,” given the time it takes to process the appointments at an administrative level, Deng said.
Taiwan and the US, one of the nation’s largest trading partners, signed the bilateral trade agreement in 1994. The two sides have held 10 rounds of trade talks since then under the TIFA platform, the most important negotiating channel for high-ranking trade officials from the two nations.
In 2004, the TIFA talks were elevated to a meeting led by officials at the deputy ministerial level.
The most recent round of the talks was presided over by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) and former deputy US trade representative Robert Holleyman.
The first TIFA meeting was held in Taipei in 1995, and Taipei and Washington hosted the meeting on a rotating basis in 1997, 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2007 before a five-year hiatus from 2008 to 2012 due to disputes over imports of US beef to Taiwan.
The meeting was resumed in 2013 after Taiwan approved imports of US beef containing residues of ractopamine, a feed additive that promotes leanness in animals, but is banned in Taiwan and many other nations because of safety concerns.
The talks have been held each year since then.
Over the past two decades, issues brought up at the Taiwan-US trade talks have included Taiwan’s WTO membership, and its bids for a free-trade agreement with the US and participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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