Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) met with ruling and opposition party lawmakers yesterday to rally support for a government-proposed bill partly aimed at mitigating the negative effects of the impending US tariffs.
The NT$410 billion (US$12.63 billion) special bill is not only intended to help the nation respond to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but also to bolster economic, social and national security resilience “in response to international developments,” Cho said.
The funding would come from budget surpluses of previous years and “would not increase the government’s debt” through new borrowing, he added.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The bill would allocate NT$93 billion for industry and employment support, NT$150 billion to improve national security resilience and NT$167 billion for social welfare measures, including providing subsidies for electricity costs and insurance fund injections, Cho said.
The funds to support industries include NT$12 billion in interest subsidies for trade financing, NT$5 billion for expanded small business loan guarantees and NT$25 billion for research-and-development grants for businesses, Cho added.
The national security budget would fund new patrol vessels to counter Chinese “gray zone” maritime activities, build new storage and backup facilities for critical supplies, and upgrade Taiwan’s cybersecurity defenses, he said.
A budget of NT$100 billion would also be set aside for subsidies to cover electricity costs that state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) has absorbed over the past three years, Cho said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) said that his party supported actions to counter US tariffs, but expressed concern that only 23 percent of the funding was directly linked to trade measures.
Fu suggested that “non-urgent parts” of the special bill, such as the subsidies for Taipower, could be proposed separately through a standard supplementary budget or through other processes.
KMT caucus secretary-general Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) criticized the expansion of the act’s budget from NT$88 billion to NT$410 billion, and questioned why industry assistance increased only from NT$88 billion to NT$93 billion despite the large overall growth.
The Cabinet first pledged a NT$88 billion relief package on April 4 to help Taiwanese exporters survive the adverse impact of 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by Trump a day earlier.
Wang said it was “worrying” that government support for affected businesses, farmers and workers remained insufficient, given the scale of the expected economic impact.
She also questioned why the government was proposing to inject another NT$100 billion into Taipower after the Legislative Yuan previously slashed similar subsidies.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said his party “100 percent” supported financial assistance for businesses and workers, but criticized the government for failing to provide a detailed impact assessment.
Huang implied that the government was attempting to “smuggle” previous spending proposals, such as the Taipower subsidy, into the new special act without sufficient justification.
TPP deputy caucus convener Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) said the budget contravened fiscal discipline by blending unrelated projects into an urgent bill intended as a response to tariffs.
Cho said the government’s goal is to negotiate tariffs with the US at rates “no higher than those [imposed by the US] on competitor countries,” while maintaining Taiwan’s industrial competitiveness and safeguarding consumer habits.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the party’s caucus would give the special budget its full support, and ensure the public understands its importance and benefits.
“Support industry, care for people’s livelihoods and protect Taiwan,” Wu said.
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