Taiwan’s phalaenopsis orchids, or moth orchids, plastics and machine tool exports are to face heightened competition, as the US began imposing a 20 percent “temporary” tariff on Taiwan yesterday, the Executive Yuan said, adding that some industry players expect a “limited” impact.
While the levy is lower than the previous 32 percent proposal, industries are likely to experience uneven impacts, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said.
Moth orchids are a concern, as Taiwan has a 46 percent share of the US market, Kung said.
Photo: Wang Han-ping, Taipei Times
Taiwan’s main competitor, the Netherlands, has a 40 percent share and faces a lower 15 percent tariff.
Companies have been contending with a 10 percent tariff since April, and the jump to 20 percent would create new pressure, he said.
To address the situation, the Executive Yuan is drafting a special budget and would provide immediate short-term assistance, he said.
Deputy Trade Representative Yen Huai-shing (顏慧欣) said Taiwan saw the second-largest tariff reduction among countries that have a trade deficit with the US.
The levy is “temporary,” Yen said, adding that Taipei is still in negotiations with Washington.
Yen cited a notice the negotiating team received before Thursday last week as saying that the “Taiwan-US meeting had not been completed.”
Only the EU secured a more favorable rate than Taiwan at 15 percent rate, she said, adding that although Japan and South Korea also received 15 percent levies, they have smaller trade deficits with the US.
Formosa Plastics Group on Wednesday said that the new US tariff would have a limited impact, as the company’s export volume to the US is relatively low.
However, indirect effects could be significant, it said, warning that high tariffs might drive inflation and weaken US consumer spending.
Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp chairman Hong Fu-yuan (洪福源) previously said that the company exported NT$5.1 billion (US$171.03 million) of goods to the US last year — about 2 percent of its total annual revenue of NT$243.8 billion.
More than half of those exports could avoid tariffs, while the rest would be withdrawn from the US market, he said.
Machine tool company Fair Friend Group (FFG) former chairman Yang Te-hua (楊德華) on Wednesday said that the company had already raised low-cost inventory levels at its US warehouses to offset the short-term impact.
Only 10 percent of FFG’s exports go to the US, so the overall effect on the group would be limited, he added.
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