The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday demanded that the government submit signed agreements with the US from its tariff negotiations to the legislature for review.
Taiwan and the US earlier yesterday announced an agreement to a long-sought trade pact that would lower tariffs on goods from Taiwan to 15 percent and see Taiwanese semiconductor firms increase financing for US operations by US$250 billion.
Taiwan also agreed to provide an additional US$250 billion in credit guarantees for further investment in the US semiconductor supply chain.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Saying that information is severely insufficient, the KMT’s Culture and Communications Committee head Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) at a press conference yesterday said the party would continue to study Japan’s and South Korea’s negotiation approaches and their GDP proportions to make data transparent.
He asked whether the trade talks were one-sided and if the US “set Taiwan up” to see what Taiwan was willing to offer to secure a 15 percent tariff rate.
The party is demanding that the government provide more information on how the talks were conducted, he said, adding that the public must know and that information about the talks should be transparent.
Citing the Cabinet statement that “Taiwanese semiconductor, electronics manufacturing service [EMS], artificial intelligence and energy companies would invest US$250 billion in the US under their own plans,” Wu claimed that the 15 percent tariff rates were secured by agreeing to relocate many high-value-added industries to the US.
The move would fundamentally alter the industrial makeup of Taiwan and reduce the number of high-level jobs in Taiwan, he said.
KMT spokesman Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) also voiced doubts about whether the negotiated tariff rates were truly beneficial for Taiwan.
In October last year, US President Donald Trump said that Taiwan should move half of its chip manufacturing industry to the US, and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who headed Taiwan’s negotiation team, said that a “50-50 split” would not be agreed to, Niu said.
Such an agreement, in addition to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s commitment to set up five additional wafer manufacturing plants in the US, brings total semiconductor production moved to the US close to 50 percent, Niu said.
President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration’s willingness to provide credit guarantees to related industries in Taiwan to invest in the US would only expedite the industry’s exit, if not the relocation of the entire industry’s supply chain from Taiwan, he added.
According to Niu, the potential outflow of semiconductor-related supply chains would have a heavier impact on Taiwan than US-imposed tariffs.
The haste in signing a memorandum of understanding with Washington meant that even if Trump’s tariffs are overturned by the US Supreme Court, Taiwan would still have to honor its commitment, Niu said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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