Taiwanese and US trade officials began a second round of talks in Taipei on Saturday under a recently launched trade initiative aimed at improving the overall bilateral trade environment.
Leading the two sides in the talks under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade are US Assistant Trade Representative Terry McCartin and Office of Trade Negotiations Deputy Trade Representative Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮).
McCartin arrived in Taipei on Friday with a delegation of more than 20 US officials, and attended a dinner later that day hosted by Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), Taiwan’s top trade negotiator, a Cabinet official familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The US delegates are not scheduled to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) or Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) due to “tight schedules,” the official said.
Few details have been revealed about this round of talks, but the Office of Trade Negotiations is expected to brief the public on its outcome after the negotiations conclude on Tuesday, the official said.
Speaking to local media yesterday morning, Deng said the government prepared well for this round of talks, and he is optimistic about progress.
Photo: CNA
He said that among the 11 issues outlined by the initiative, Taiwanese officials would focus on trade facilitation, the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises, effective regulatory practices and anti-corruption measures.
The goal of the government continues to be that the two sides can “reach some high-standard and economically meaningful agreements” by the end of this year, Deng said.
Under the initiative launched in June last year, bilateral negotiations are also expected on trade issues related to agriculture, state-owned enterprises, nonmarket policies and practices, digital trade, standards, labor and the environment.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations
However, the initiative does not cover tariff reductions.
The talks in Taipei follow two days of meetings held in New York in November last year, at which McCartin and Yang also served as the lead officials for the US and Taiwan respectively.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new