Officials Seek To Ease Concerns About US-Taiwan Trade Deal

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan's Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun has returned from Washington after negotiating a deal that lowers Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15% with no stacking, in exchange for US$500 billion in investment and financing tied to US-based chipmaking. Opposition parties argue the deal could “hollow out” Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, while the economy ministry says only 20% of advanced chip production would be in the US by 2036, a figure some industry experts dispute.

Transcript

00:00Taiwan's trade negotiating team has returned from the United States with a deal to lower

00:08Taiwan's tariff rate. For a 5% reduction, Taiwan will put out 500 billion U.S. dollars

00:14in investment and financing for U.S.-based chip manufacturing.

00:17But not everyone is happy with the deal. Taiwan's opposition parties have strongly criticized

00:33it, saying it could hollow out Taiwan's semiconductor industry. To ease those concerns, the economy

00:39ministry issued this graphic showing the worldwide distribution of Taiwan's chip industry, saying

00:45that even by 2036, only 20% of advanced chip production will be in the U.S. But some

00:51industry experts disagree.

00:53I think it will definitely be up to 20%. The main reason is that we can look at it from

01:01Taiwan's revenue. There are 70% of customers in the United States. I think it will increase

01:09the U.S.-based chip industry. Traditional export industries that may benefit from

01:16lower tariffs have generally supported the deal, as has Taiwan's chip giant and main investor

01:21in the arrangement, TSMC. But some experts say countries should think carefully about such

01:26agreements. The cabinet will hold a press conference Tuesday to further explain the deal to the

01:41public. It then faces a potentially rocky road through Taiwan's legislature.

01:46There's Gorin and Yuen Duan for Taiwan Plus.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended