The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged President William Lai (賴清德) to clearly explain the government’s strategy and short to long-term response to the US’ new trade tariffs, while the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) called on Lai to convene a national affairs conference over the matter.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday last week announced “reciprocal tariffs” with major US trading partners, including a 32 percent tariff on Taiwan.
The Executive Yuan on Friday announced that it would allocate NT$88 billion (US$2.66 billion) to assist industrial and agricultural sectors impacted by the tariffs.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
KMT think tank deputy director Ling Tao (凌濤) at a news conference in Taipei yesterday said the Lai administration does not have any countermeasures for the latest US tariffs, because it has been too focused on mass recall campaigns for the past year, Tao said.
Now the tariffs are taking effect, and the administration still does not have a solution, showing it is vastly ill-prepared, he said.
The Lai administration should communicate who would lead negotiations, their strategy and short to long-term response plans in the face of the tariffs, as Taiwan’s industries and financial markets cannot wait, Tao said.
Photo: CNA
He also offered some suggestions, including procuring new nuclear energy facilities to improve national energy security and reduce the Taiwan-US trade surplus, forming a negotiation team, appointing a special envoy for talks with the US and binding trade to regional security defense.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s investment in the US could also be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations, he said.
KMT spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu said that Taiwan’s businesses are very worried, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, which would be the first to be impacted by the tariff.
Governments are taking action, as the global supply chain is being restructured, she said.
The Lai administration should take concrete actions, rather than procrastinating and brushing off the public, which is waiting for the government to provide solutions, she said.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Liu Tsai-wei (柳采葳) said that the public wants the government to face and solve problems.
“Unfortunately, it is like a group of patients unaware of their illness. They do not even know what the problem is, let alone how to solve it,” she said.
Separately yesterday, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) criticized Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), saying he was “careless and incompetent,” referring to Cho’s response to US tariffs, and called on Lai to convene the governing and opposition parties to discuss national affairs together.
In the face of the tariffs, “the Lai administration could not even gather the most basic information, let alone have a concrete strategy for negotiating with the US,” Huang said. “It is clear that they were completely unprepared and lack any concrete measures.”
Cho’s “incompetent response” to the tariffs shows he is no longer capable of leading the executive team, he added.
“Lai must step up and convene a national affairs conference with the major political parties, industries and labor representatives to discuss how to resolve this major crisis facing Taiwan,” he said.
Huang said the TPP caucus submitted a letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Saturday calling for cross-caucus talks and for an Executive Yuan representative to outline the government’s tariffs response plan to the legislature.
In response, Democratic Progressive Party spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) yesterday said that the Lai administration has been making pre-emptive plans and response measures.
Lai and Cabinet officials have held a series of intensive meetings over the past few days and consulted with industries on appropriate countermeasures, Wu said.
“In contrast, what have the opposition parties done other than criticizing and attacking the administration?” he asked.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS