Half of the 100 members of the US Senate on Thursday issued a call to assume formal negotiations on a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement between Taiwan and the US.
In a letter to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the 42 Republican and eight Democratic senators said that Taiwan has demonstrated its capacity to maintain a strong economic partnership with the US.
“Along with a robust trading profile of goods and services, Taiwan supports an estimated 208,000 American jobs — a number that will only increase with a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement,” said the letter, as posted on the official Web site of one of the signatories, US Senator James Inhofe.
US Senator Robert Menendez, who with Inhofe chairs the US Senate Taiwan Caucus, and 48 other senators said in the letter that Taiwan not only supplements US goods and services, but is a reliable partner in many industries.
“This is not only critical for diversifying our supply chains, but essential to reducing our reliance on other countries such as China who seek to leverage supply chain inefficiencies in their path to regional and global dominance,” the letter said. “This diversification of our supply chain is critical to our national security.”
The senators also said that while there are challenges to establishing an agreement with Taiwan, they are confident that it can be achieved, adding that Taiwan has already taken steps to further the discussions, for example by announcing to lift restrictions on imports of US pork.
“Once implemented, this change will greatly increase accessibility for our farmers and ranchers to do business in Taiwan, and in light of this important development, we should now substantively move forward on negotiations for a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan,” the letter said.
The US should pursue the goal of keeping the Indo-Pacific region free and open by countering China’s use of unfair trading practices and other policies to advance its economic dominance in the region, they added.
“An agreement with Taiwan would help us accomplish this goal by building a network of like-minded governments dedicated to fair competition and open markets free from government manipulation and would serve as a signal to other nations that Taiwan is a viable partner that is open for business,” the letter said.
In light of Taiwan’s record as a long-standing economic partner and security ally of the US, the senators said that Lighthizer should begin the formal process of negotiating an agreement.
“We are confident that a US-Taiwan trade agreement would promote security and economic growth for the United States, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific as a whole,” it said. “We urge the administration to prioritize a comprehensive trade agreement with Taiwan, and we look forward to working with you to secure this framework.”
Taiwan is the US’ 11th-largest trading partner, with US$76 billion in total goods exchanged in 2018 and US$18.5 billion in services, the letter said.
The Presidential Office yesterday expressed hopes to deepen economic and trade exchanges and cooperation with the US.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
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