Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), Taiwan’s chief trade negotiator, visited the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in Washington on Friday to discuss the next meeting under a newly launched US-Taiwan trade initiative.
Deng said he met with US Deputy Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi to talk about the next meeting under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, which was introduced last month.
The first meeting under the initiative was held at the USTR on Monday, but Deng attended the meeting virtually after testing positive for COVID-19 while in Mexico. He flew to Washington upon completing quarantine and visited the USTR on Friday to discuss the second meeting.
Photo: CNA
Deng and Bianchi had a substantive discussion of the trade initiative’s agenda, followed up on details of Monday’s meeting and discussed the next meeting, he said.
“I hope the trade initiative will result in concrete conclusions and push Taiwan-US trade ties forward,” Deng said.
Taiwan and the US on June 1 launched the joint trade initiative to “develop concrete ways” to boost a bilateral economic and trade relationship with the aim of negotiating “high-standard” agreements.
The trade initiative “is intended to develop concrete ways to deepen the economic and trade relationship, advance mutual trade priorities based on shared values, and promote innovation and inclusive economic growth for our workers and businesses,” the USTR said.
Friday’s visit allowed Deng to better understand US plans to facilitate trade ties with Taiwan, and the ways it would ensure the endurance of bilateral relations, he said.
Deng said he also told the US government that Taipei is eager to work with Washington and hopes the trade initiative shows concrete results soon.
The trade framework is in an “open comment period” until Friday.
Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said this week that she would like official negotiations on a new trade initiative to begin this month.
Bilateral ties are at their most positive stage given the US’ solid support for Taiwan, Deng said, citing a meeting with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) in Bangkok earlier this year, which he believes helped lead to the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade.
Taiwan and the US are expected to have an equal footing in negotiations under the initiative, with a sound legislative base being established to allow each country’s industries and non-governmental organizations to work together.
Deng said that Taiwan also looks forward to taking part in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), despite being excluded from the first round of membership.
The IPEF was launched on May 23 by US President Joe Biden.
Due to his COVID-19 infection, Deng could not attend the SelectUSA Investment Summit held last week in Maryland.
Taiwan sent the largest delegation to the summit, leading to Taiwan-based GlobalWafers Co’s proposed investment of US$5 billion to build a 300mm silicon chip plant in Texas, and US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo later spoke with Deng online, he said.
Raimondo expressed gratitude for Taiwan’s investments and said she would like to develop further business ties with Taiwan, Deng said.
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