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.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
RSS