The US has agreed to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods from 20 percent to 15 percent, without stacking them on existing most-favored-nation (MFN) rates, the Executive Yuan said in a statement today.
The agreement, reached in trade negotiations that concluded yesterday in Washington, also grants semiconductors and related products the most favorable treatment under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the Cabinet said.
Photo: AFP
It also includes commitments to expand supply chain investment cooperation and deepen Taiwan-US strategic collaboration on artificial intelligence, according to the statement.
The new tariff rate of 15 percent matches US rates on goods from major trade partners such as Japan, South Korea and the EU.
As part of the agreement, Taiwanese semiconductor, electronics manufacturing service (EMS), artificial intelligence and energy companies would invest US$250 billion in the US based on their own plans, the Cabinet statement said, although no timetable was given.
At the same time, Taiwan's government has also agreed to provide up to US$250 billion in credit guarantees for financial institutions to support investments in the US market by the semiconductor and information and communication technology sectors, the statement said.
On Monday, the New York Times reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would commit to building at least five more fabs in exchange for a possible reduction in . tariffs on Taiwanese goods.
TSMC chairman and CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) did not directly respond to the report at an investor conference yesterday, but he said his company was "speeding up" its capacity expansion in the US to satisfy client needs.
With the deal, Taiwan has become the first country in the world to secure the most favorable treatment for its semiconductor and related product suppliers, which should significantly ease uncertainties for the local semiconductor industry, the Cabinet statement said.
The US has also pledged to grant most favorable status to Taiwanese semiconductor firms when they import raw materials, equipment and electronics components for their US operations, the statement said, without elaborating.
According to the Cabinet, Washington has recognized and accepted a "Taiwan model" that Taipei proposed to allow Taiwanese companies to follow their own plans for investing in the US and moving closer geographically to their US clients.
The "Taiwan model" is expected to encourage Taiwanese companies to enter the supply chain in the US market and build industrial clusters there, the Cabinet said.
Taiwan has the sixth-biggest trade surplus with the US of any country in the world, and about 90 percent of that is from sales of semiconductors, information and communications products, and electronic components, the statement said.
In a separate statement, the US Department of Commerce described the arrangement as "a historic trade deal that will drive a massive reshoring of America's semiconductor sector" and "strengthen US economic resilience, create high-paying jobs and bolster national security."
Beyond the tech sector, the reduction of the import duty on Taiwanese goods imported to the US to 15 percent without stacking them on existing MFN rates should help make Taiwan's non-tech sectors more competitive, as they would now be on an equal footing with Japan, South Korea and the EU, the Cabinet said.
Taiwan has also secured the most favorable treatment for other items such as auto parts, wooden furniture and aircraft components under Section 232, and Taipei and Washington have agreed to set up a negotiation mechanism under Section 232.
PEACE AT LAST? UN experts had warned of threats and attacks ahead of the voting, but after a turbulent period, Bangladesh has seemingly reacted to the result with calm The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday celebrated a landslide victory in the first elections held since a deadly 2024 uprising, with party leader Tarique Rahman to become prime minister. Bangladesh Election Commission figures showed that the BNP alliance had won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Islamist-led Jamaat-e-Islami alliance. The US embassy congratulated Rahman and the BNP for a “historic victory,” while India praised Rahman’s “decisive win” in a significant step after recent rocky relations with Bangladesh. China and Pakistan, which grew closer to Bangladesh since the uprising and the souring of ties with India, where ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina
FAST-TRACK: The deal is to be sent to the legislature, but time is of the essence, as Trump had raised tariffs on Seoul when it failed to quickly ratify a similar pact Taiwan and the US on Thursday signed a trade agreement that caps US tariffs on Taiwanese goods at 15 percent and provides preferential market access for US industrial and agricultural exports, including cars, and beef and pork products. The Taiwan-US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade confirms a 15 percent US tariff for Taiwanese goods, and grants Taiwanese semiconductors and related products the most-favorable-treatment under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the Executive Yuan said. In addition, 2,072 items — representing nearly 20 percent of Taiwan’s total exports to the US — would be exempt from additional tariffs and be subject only to
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday approved a special pardon exempting a woman in her 80s convicted of killing her disabled son from imprisonment. After carefully reviewing the case, Lai pardoned Lin Liu Lung-tzu (林劉龍子) from the prison sentence while acknowledging her conviction, citing the extreme circumstances she faced, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. Under Article 3 of the Amnesty Act (赦免法), the two kinds of pardons are exempting an offender from the execution of a punishment or declaring the punishment to be invalid. Kuo said Lin Liu had spent more than 50 years caring for her son, before
HOLIDAY RUSH: Airport passenger volume is expected to reach a new high, while southbound road traffic would likely peak from Tuesday As Lunar New Year travelers flock overseas, passenger traffic at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is expected to shatter records, as Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC, 桃園國際機場), Taiwan’s largest aviation hub operator, projected yesterday’s passenger volume to climb to 167,000. The figure comes after a record single-day high of 161,000 passengers on Thursday, and would surpass the previous pre-COVID-19 pandemic Lunar New Year peak of 166,000 passengers in 2019, TIAC said. Long lines could be seen forming as early as 7am yesterday, filling Terminal 1 of the airport almost to capacity, yet security checks took only 10 to 15 minutes. TIAC urged
RSS