The Executive Yuan today decried US President Donald Trump's 32-percent tariff on Taiwanese goods announced yesterday and said it would lodge a representation with Washington.
In a news release, the Cabinet described the pledged US tariffs, expected to take effect next Wednesday, as "deeply unreasonable" and "highly regrettable."
Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said the government would "lodge a solemn representation" with the United States Trade Representative and continue negotiating with the US to "ensure the interests of our nation and industries."
Photo: Taipei Times
At a news conference in Washington, Trump announced a 10-percent baseline tariff on most goods imported to the US, set to take effect on Saturday.
However, Taiwan and dozens of other countries, including some of the US' main trading partners, face much higher duties, in what Trump described as an effort to address "unbalanced" trading relationships, reduce trade deficits, and boost US manufacturing capacity.
In particular, the Trump administration will impose a 32-percent "reciprocal tariff" on Taiwanese goods entering the US, starting next Wednesday.
The "reciprocal tariffs" target countries that have enacted tariffs, manipulated currencies, subsidized exports, and implemented other trade barriers against the US, Trump said.
Nevertheless, certain goods, such as copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber, energy and "certain critical minerals" will be exempt from such levies, according to the White House.
In the news release, Lee said the planned 32-percent tariff was "unfair to Taiwan" because it "does not accurately reflect the trade and economic situation" between the two sides.
Taiwan's exports to the US have increased significantly in recent years mainly because of the surge in demand from the US for semiconductors and artificial intelligence-related products, Lee said.
Lee said many Taiwanese information and communication companies had relocated their manufacturing from China to Taiwan due to US tariffs on goods from China in Trump's first term and the US technology control policy against China over national security concerns.
In that regard, she went on, Taiwan should not be subject to high tariffs in view of its "tremendous contributions to the US economy and national security."
According to Lee, Taiwan's government has been actively cracking down on transshipment by Taiwanese producers, a practice where goods are routed through a third country to alter their country of origin in order to benefit from lower duties imposed on that third country.
The spokesperson hence argued that Taiwan should not be treated in a similar way as Vietnam, which faces a 46-percent tariff, Cambodia (49 percent), and Thailand (36 percent), where the problems of transshipment are more pronounced.
Lee also criticized the "unclear" methodology, scientific basis and international trade theory behind the US' tariff measures.
According to data from Taiwan's executive body, the US ran a trade deficit with Taiwan at about US$73.9 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of 54.6 percent, making Taiwan the sixth-largest source of trade deficits for the US.
The data also showed that last year, the total bilateral trade reached US$158.6 billion, up 24.2 percent compared to the previous year.
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