Taiwan has “never made any commitment to a 50-50 split on manufacturing chips, and would not agree to such terms,” Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said yesterday after returning from a fifth round of in-person tariff negotiations with the US.
US President Donald Trump’s administration wants Taiwan to adopt a “50-50 split” on semiconductor manufacturing, with half of the chips used in the US to be made domestically, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in an interview with NewsNation on Sunday.
The concept differs from the investment direction being discussed under negotiations regarding supply chain cooperation, the Cabinet said in a statement yesterday.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
As the US expands its investigation into the semiconductor market under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962, paving the way for potential tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is seeking cuts to Trump’s tariffs and preferential treatment related to Section 232, the Executive Yuan said.
The White House’s provisional 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods was implemented on Aug. 7, although negotiations are ongoing.
The negotiation team returned to Taiwan yesterday morning.
Cheng headed the delegation alongside Minister Without Portfolio Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮), head of the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations, and Ministry of Economic Affairs personnel.
The group held in-person meetings in Washington with the Office of the US Trade Representative and the US Department of Commerce, with “some progress made,” the statement said.
Once the two sides reach a consensus on tariffs, Section 232 preferential treatment and supply chain cooperation, a meeting would be held to finalize a Taiwan-US trade agreement, the delegation said.
The US launched the ongoing Section 232 investigation in April into possible tariffs on semiconductor and other tech product imports.
The Executive Yuan said that the 50-50 condition “goes against Taiwan-US supply chain cooperation,” reiterating Taiwan’s opposition to such terms.
The idea was condemned by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).
KMT Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) on Monday said that the proposal was not a trade agreement, but “exploitation and plunder.”
“No one can sell out Taiwan or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), and no one can undermine Taiwan’s silicon shield,” KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday.
TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) called the proposal an attempt to “hollow out the foundations of Taiwan’s technology sector.”
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