00:00The White House has announced 25% tariffs on Japanese and South Korean goods starting
00:06in August.
00:07Twelve other countries are supposed to get similar notices soon, with a deadline for
00:11a trade deal extended to August 1st.
00:15Taiwan's not on this priority list, but that doesn't mean it can avoid U.S. tariffs forever.
00:20This is, after all, a country U.S. President Donald Trump has specifically accused of quote
00:24stealing the U.S. chip industry.
00:27As tariff uncertainty hits both U.S. and Taiwanese stocks, some people are asking, when Taiwan
00:32gets its tariff notice, how big a headache for exporters will it be?
00:37Officials say a string of talks, virtual and in person, aren't finished yet, so it's too
00:41early to comment.
00:44But those in economics and business have drawn their own conclusions.
00:49Some imagine a tariff rate far lower than the 32% the Trump administration first announced
00:53in April, before hitting the pause button.
00:55But others say the tariff rate itself isn't the only problem for exporters.
01:14The Taiwan dollar has strengthened against the U.S. dollar in recent months. That makes Taiwan's
01:19goods more expensive. And when added to the tariffs, this could be more than many businesses
01:23can take.
01:33And there could be another tariff just on chips coming by late August, making things even
01:37tougher for Taiwan's firms.
01:40After a long period of reliance on the Chinese market, Taiwan has been exporting more and more
01:45to the U.S. And in some months, the U.S. is Taiwan's biggest market.
01:50In May, for instance, the U.S. bought 30% of Taiwan's exports, compared to the roughly
01:5427% for China and Hong Kong combined.
01:58So there's a lot riding on trade talks with the U.S., as the time for talking runs out.
02:03Alex Chen and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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