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.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
RSS