US State Offices Drive Taiwanese Investment to the United States

As Taiwan looks to increase investment in the US, individual state offices are tasked with attracting capital to their parts of the country.

Transcript

00:00At a time when the U.S. is evaluating its trade relationship with Taiwan, Taipei touts

00:05its contributions to the American market.

00:19Ling's comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has slapped

00:24a general 20% reciprocal tariff on most Taiwanese goods entering the American market.

00:30That 20% goes on top of any existing duties.

00:34Taiwan is trying to negotiate down the 20% tariff, but any downward adjustment is expected

00:40to come at a price.

00:41Last week, a report in the Financial Times said Taiwan could commit up to US$400 billion in

00:48investments to secure a lower tariff rate.

00:51While an agreement has yet to be finalized, Taipei does seem to be teeing up further U.S.-Taiwan

00:57investment regardless of what comes of tariff negotiations.

01:15Ling's remarks come at an appreciation gala for the American State Offices Association

01:20or ASOA.

01:22The organization is made up of roughly two dozen representatives from U.S. states and territories.

01:28If Taiwan commits more investment in the U.S., each office will also be looking to attract

01:34Taiwan investment to their region, vying for a piece of the pie.

01:38This is the job of each representative office.

01:41A lot of Taiwanese companies don't know what it's like to go abroad.

01:47Their biggest issue is not that they don't want to go to the U.S., it's that they don't

01:50have the knowledge to go to the U.S.

01:52So our office works on promoting this.

01:54But each rep not only has to guide investors to Taiwan, they also think about which aspect

02:00of Taiwanese industry is most suited for their part of the U.S.

02:04So New Jersey has a different value proposition.

02:07We're really good at the life sciences.

02:09Top ten of the top eight life sciences companies, they're based in New Jersey.

02:14So recently we see an acquisition from Taiwan.

02:17They spent two hundred million Taiwanese dollars to acquire a company in New Jersey in the biotech

02:22sector.

02:23For Taiwanese businesses, understanding which state is best suited for their operations is

02:28valuable for expansion to the U.S.

02:31For Jeff Hu, the CEO of a cybersecurity firm, ASOA played a crucial role in where to land his

02:37business in the U.S.

02:39And ASOA actually brings us a lot of opportunity to meet people from other states to give us the

02:45best handed information I wish state to choose.

02:48Where should we go?

02:49Where are the partners?

02:50While Taiwan and the U.S. continue to hash out a trade and investment deal, it is these

02:55people to people connections led by state representatives and organizations like ASOA

03:00which will help to fill in the actual details of these partnerships.

03:05John Hsu and Leslie Liao for Taiwan Plus.