Taiwan and the US yesterday announced that they would commence negotiations on a new trade agreement, dubbed the “Taiwan-US Initiative on 21st-century Trade,” signaling a breakthrough after Taiwan was excluded from a US-led regional trade framework.
The first round of negotiations would be held in Washington at the end of this month, Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) told a news conference in Taipei, adding that he would head the Taiwanese delegation to the US.
Deng made the announcement after an online meeting with Deputy US Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi, in which the two sides agreed on the initiative’s name.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
The negotiations would cover 11 areas, but would not include tariffs, Deng said.
The 11 areas include trade facilitation, agricultural trade, fighting corruption, common standards on digital trade, workers’ rights, environmental regulations and state-owned companies, Deng said.
The bilateral initiative largely parallels US President Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), an economic partnership with 13 Asian countries that he launched last week during a visit to Seoul and Tokyo. Taiwan was not included, although more than 200 members of the US Congress had called for its inclusion.
Deng said that although some of the initiative’s areas would overlap with those in the IPEF, Taiwan would continue working toward joining the regional agreement.
“For many years we have been hoping to launch trade talks with the US, and now the trade talks can officially begin,” Deng said. “This initiative provides us with a mechanism for talks, and Taiwan and the US aim to reach agreements on some topics and sign some agreements in the shortest possible time.”
Meanwhile, the two sides would continue the current Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) talks, Deng said, adding that negotiations under the new initiative are intended to lead to the inking of new trade agreements, while TIFA talks focus on solving trade-related disputes.
The talks with Taiwan, led for Washington by the US Trade Representative’s office, would supplement several existing dialogues with Taipei, including one led by the US Department of Commerce on export controls and other supply chain issues, a US official said.
Like the IPEF, the initiative with Taiwan would not need US congressional approval because it would not include market access requirements or reduced tariffs, the official added.
The so-called US “fast track” negotiating authority for major trade agreements expired in July last year, and the Biden administration has not asked the US Congress to renew it.
“We think there’s a lot of robust areas that we can cover, that would really deepen our economic engagement, our economic ties, without dealing with market access issues, but, of course, obviously, we’re not ruling anything out for the future,” the official said.
A second official said the new initiative added to other efforts to “highlight the US commitment to the region, specifically economically.”
The US had lacked an economic pillar to its Indo-Pacific engagement since former US president Donald Trump quit a multinational trans-Pacific trade agreement, in part out of concern over US jobs.
EMBRACE CHANGE: Jensen Huang told NTU graduates that instead of worrying about AI itself, they should worry that people with expertise in AI would be taking their jobs Artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining the computer industry, and Taiwanese companies could play a major role in replacing the world’s traditional computers as they are the foundation of the industry, Nvidia Corp cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said in Taipei yesterday. Huang made the remarks while giving the keynote speech at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) commencement ceremony. AI has created immense opportunities, and versatile companies can be expected to take advantage and boost their position, while less flexible firms would perish, he said. “In every way, this is a rebirth of the computer industry and a golden opportunity for the companies of
‘ARCHAIC’: An interpretation of a law that considered Chinese as Taiwanese nationals was scrapped after the death of a Chinese in Kaohsiung led to state reparations An administrative mandate to consider Chinese as Taiwanese citizens was outdated, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, a day after the Executive Yuan ordered that agencies disregard the 30-year-old interpretation. Chen made the remarks at an event held by the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei following changes to the administrative mandate concerning the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例). The previous interpretation of the law was archaic and contrary to the workings of laws and regulations, he said, adding that the order was made to avoid unnecessary problems created by the mandate. The Mainland
NOT BUYING IT: One of the goals of Beijing’s Cross-Strait Media People Summit was to draw mainstream media executives to discuss the ‘one country, two systems’ formula Taiwanese news media insist on press freedom and professionalism, and would never become a tool of China’s “united front” campaign, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, responding to media queries about the lack of Taiwanese media executives at the Cross-Strait Media People Summit in Beijing. Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) was reportedly furious that no Taiwanese media representatives attended a scheduled meeting with him on Thursday last week. “Beijing should take Taiwan’s determination to pursue freedom and democracy seriously. We also hope that it will not use vicious means to interfere with Taiwan’s development into a
IMMIGRATION REFORM: The legislative amendments aim to protect the rights of families to reunify, and to attract skilled professionals to stay and work in Taiwan Foreigners who are highly skilled professionals, top-prize winners in professional disciplines, investment immigration applicants or have made special contributions to Taiwan can soon apply for permanent residency on behalf of their spouses and minor or disabled children after the legislature approved amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法). The amendments, which were proposed by the Ministry of the Interior and approved by the Executive Yuan on Jan. 12, aim to attract foreign talent to Taiwan and encourage them to stay. They would take effect once they are signed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The amendments involved changing 63 articles, making it the biggest
RSS