The opposition legislative caucuses have agreed to pause a proposal to issue universal cash payments while US-Taiwan tariff talks are finalized, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus' secretary-general Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said today.
The Legislative Yuan was originally expected to vote on a proposal to include universal cash payments as part of the Executive Yuan’s new NT$410 billion (US$14.16 billion) special budget.
The Legislature today decided it would not discuss the bill today or on Tuesday next week after reaching a consensus through cross-party negotiation.
Photo: CNA
The KMT proposed a NT$10,000 payment, and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) a NT$6,000 one, drawn from surplus tax revenues.
While the proposal was originally set to be part of the current legislative session, the KMT and TPP have agreed to wait until after negotiations with the US are complete and the impact on various industries is known, Wang said.
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have supported the Executive Yuan’s NT$410 billion special budget plan but the KMT and TPP have pushed to include the cash payments as well as reduced subsidies for Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電).
Wang referred to the example set by Vietnam as the first country in Asia to sign a trade deal with the US; a deal which sees no tariffs on US exports to Vietnam but 20-percent tariffs on Vietnamese exports to the US, down from 46 percent.
“Following the example set by Vietnam makes us very worried,” Wang said, adding that such a deal’s impact on Taiwan would have an “unimaginable” effect.
NT$410 billion may not be enough to mitigate the impact, Wang added.
After the new trade deal is announced with the US, which could happen as soon as next week, the KMT intends to consult with industries before proceeding, Wang said.
“It would be a more appropriate time,” Wang added.
US President Donald Trump said Washington is to start sending letters to countries today specifying what tariff rates they are to face on imports to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual deals.
Acknowledging the complexity of negotiating with over 170 nations, Trump told reporters before departing for Iowa yesterday that the letters are to be sent to 10 countries at a time, laying out tariff rates such as 20 percent to 30 percent.
The Republican president said he expected "a couple" more detailed agreements with other countries after Wednesday's announcement of a trade deal with Vietnam.
However, he said he preferred to notify most countries of a specific tariff rate, skipping detailed negotiations.
In early April, Trump announced the imposition of "reciprocal" tariffs on imports from dozens of countries and territories, including a blanket levy on Taiwanese goods of 32 percent.
Trump later suspended the tariffs for 90 days and imposed a reduced 10 percent duty on most countries. The temporary pause is set to expire on Wednesday next week.
Taiwanese officials and their counterparts in the US completed a second round of tariff talks at the end of last month, the Executive Yuan's Office of Trade Negotiations has said.
However, it provided little detail about the negotiations, saying only that both sides had achieved "constructive progress.”
Labor groups today criticized the government for “backroom dealing” and warned that they would rally outside the Executive Yuan if their right to work is compromised.
The government has not discussed the issue with labor groups, a group formed last month to deal with the impact brought by the US tariffs said in a news release today.
The group criticized the government for “pretending everything is well,” and yet has not mentioned researchers’ and experts’ warning that the US could impose a 15 to 20 percent tariff on Taiwan.
The government has to make concrete promises and formulate complementary measures that would allow workers to continue to work in their industry, the group said.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Fion Khan
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