The Executive Yuan yesterday decried US President Donald Trump’s 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods announced hours earlier as “unfair,” saying it would lodge a representation with Washington.
The Cabinet in a statement described the pledged US tariffs, expected to take effect on Wednesday next week, as “deeply unreasonable” and “highly regrettable.”
Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the government would “lodge a solemn representation” with the US Trade Representative and continue negotiating with Washington to “ensure the interests of our nation and industries.”
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Trump at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on most goods imported to the US, set to take effect tomorrow.
However, Taiwan and dozens of other countries, including some of the US’ main trading partners, are to face much higher duties, in what Trump described as an effort to address “unbalanced” trading relationships, reduce trade deficits and boost US manufacturing capacity.
Certain goods, such as copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber, energy and “certain critical minerals,” would be exempt, the White House said.
The planned 32 percent tariff was “unfair to Taiwan,” as it “does not accurately reflect the trade and economic situation” between the two sides, Lee said in the statement.
Taiwan’s exports to the US have increased significantly in the past few years mainly because of a surge in demand from the US for semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI)-related products, Lee said.
Many Taiwanese information and communications firms relocated manufacturing from China to Taiwan due to US tariffs on goods from China in Trump’s first term and US technology control policy against China over national security concerns, she said.
In that regard, Taiwan should not be subject to high tariffs in view of its “tremendous contributions to the US economy and national security,” she said.
Taipei has been cracking down on transshipment by Taiwanese producers, a practice by which goods are routed through a third country to alter their country of origin to benefit from lower duties, Lee said.
Taiwan should not be treated in a similar way as Vietnam, which is to face a 46 percent tariff, Cambodia (49 percent) and Thailand (36 percent), where the problems of transshipment are more pronounced, she said.
Moreover, the methodology, scientific basis and international trade theory behind the tariff measures are “unclear,” she said.
The US last year had a trade deficit with Taiwan of about US$73.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 54.6 percent, making Taiwan the sixth-largest contributor to the US’ deficit, Executive Yuan data showed.
Total bilateral trade was US$158.6 billion last year, up 24.2 percent from the previous year, the data showed.
Trump’s tariffs would target computers, computer parts and integrated circuits that together compose the bulk of the nation’s exports to the US.
Last year, Taiwan exported US$51.49 billion of data processing equipment and parts, and US$7.4 billion of integrated circuits to the US, or 46.2 percent and 6.7 percent of the total volume respectively, the data showed.
In February, Taiwan’s top three US exports were computers (US$6.84 billion), computer parts (US$649 million) and integrated circuits (US$546 million), 58.1 percent, 5.5 percent and 4.6 percent respectively of the total trade volume, the data showed.
Tariffs on those products would affect the Taiwanese and US economies, as the nation’s servers and chip-based products have sustained the rise of the AI sector, an official said on condition of anonymity.
The exemption of semiconductors from the US tariffs would have a limited effect on trade, as most Taiwanese chips are packaged in Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand or India before being sold to the US tech industry, the official said.
Taiwan’s biggest direct trade partner for chips last year was China, which bought US$85.26 billion of the nation’s semiconductors, or more than half of all chip exports, the official said.
The next largest importers of Taiwanese semiconductors were Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia, the official added.
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday afternoon said that Taiwan finds Trump’s policies unreasonable and is concerned about the effect on the global economy.
Lai made the comments on Facebook after convening an emergency Cabinet meeting at the presidential residence.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and other Cabinet officials were ordered to unveil the government’s response to the tariffs as soon as possible and save no effort in their negotiations with Washington, Lai said.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
RSS