US President Donald Trump is now “accelerating negotiations with Taiwan” regarding tariffs, eyeing an investment figure between that agreed by South Korea and Japan, US media outlet Politico reported yesterday.
Taiwan is hoping to secure a final deal by the end of the month if the US government shutdown ends soon, Politico quoted an official familiar with the trade talks as saying.
Taipei and Washington are continuing to negotiate a deal in which Taiwan invests billions of US dollars in the US, as was agreed by South Korea and Japan, the article said.
Photo: Reuters
The figure could be “midway between South Korea’s US$350 billion and Japan’s US$550 billion,” which secured both nations a 15 percent tariff rate, the official was quoted as saying.
In July, it was reported that Taipei was considering a US$300 to US$400 billion investment to secure more favorable tariff terms.
The Trump administration may be attempting to secure more tariff deals before they could be axed in a US Supreme Court ruling expected by the end of the year, the article said.
The US Supreme Court justices last week questioned Trump’s authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
However, Trump could proceed with tariffs under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Politico said.
Smaller nations “expect talks with the administration to progress more quickly as the Supreme Court weighs the limits of Trump’s tariff powers,” the report said.
Taiwan's exports to the US are currently subject to a “temporary” 20 percent tariff, while a separate deal for semiconductors, electronics, and information and communication technology remains under negotiation, President William Lai (賴清德) said in July.
A final deal remains “just steps away,” he said on Monday.
Taiwan is seeking more favorable tariffs for semiconductors under the WTO’s “most favored nation” principle and lower, non-cumulative export tariffs.
It has devised the “Taiwan model,” separate from those of Japan and South Korea, that would allow corporate owners to choose the industries in which they wish to invest, and the government then invests based on those choices, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said last month.
However, Taipei’s “bigger concern” is the possibility that an ongoing investigation by the US Department of Commerce under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act could impose new tariffs on Taiwan's leading semiconductor industry, Politico said.
The article also quoted another unidentified official as being “hesitant to predict” when the US and Taiwan would reach a final negotiation, citing Trump’s “track record of last minute reversals on trade deals.”
Additional reporting by CNA
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