Minister Without Portfolio Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮), head of the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations, on Thursday met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in South Korea, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said in Taipei yesterday, without providing details on what specifically was discussed.
Yang and Greer met on the sidelines of the APEC trade ministers’ meeting in Jeju, Cheng said, adding that the two hoped to hold another round of negotiations on tariffs.
The encounter was the first between the two sides since Taiwan last month met twice with US officials to discuss tariffs, the first via videoconference on April 11 and the second in person at the end of the month.
Photo: Taipei Times
Cheng and Yang led the Taiwanese delegation at the second meeting.
Describing last month’s talks as “constructive,” Cheng said they covered tariffs, non-tariff barriers and economic security, and that the two sides were willing to reinforce bilateral trade and economic cooperation based on mutual benefits.
The talks were held following US President Donald Trump’s rollout early last month of what he called “reciprocal” tariffs on trading partners that targeted countries with large trade surpluses with the US.
Goods from Taiwan, for example, were hit with a 32 percent import duty.
A week later, Trump announced a 90-day pause on the higher punitive rates to allow negotiations with countries for lower rates, while assessing a 10 percent duty against most economies.
Although some countries have pushed back against Trump’s tactics, Taiwan has offered little overt resistance.
President William Lai (賴清德) has said that Taiwan has no intention of launching retaliatory measures and hoped to move toward a “zero tariff” arrangement with the US modeled on the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Cheng said that Taiwan’s only goal in the trade negotiations was to lower tariffs and turn risks into opportunities to advance local industrial development.
In terms of a possible tariff threatened by Trump on semiconductors and other products under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Cheng said that Taiwan has given opinions to Washington on the levy.
If a tariff were imposed on Taiwan’s semiconductors, Taiwanese manufacturers would slow down their investments in the US market, which could interrupt semiconductor supplies, she said.
Trump has said that Taiwan “stole” the chip industry from the US and threatened to impose a tariff of up to 100 percent on semiconductors made in Taiwan.
Last year, Taiwan had a trade surplus with the US of US$73.9 billion, rising sharply from US$47.8 billion in 2023, largely due to increased shipments of artificial intelligence-related products, such as chips and servers.
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