Taiwan is considering requesting the WTO investigate and rule on an EU tariff on imported liquid-crystal-displays (LCDs) that Taiwan alleges is in contravention of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), a high-ranking trade official said yesterday.
The EU has imposed a 14 percent import duty on LCDs of more than 19 inches, claiming that they are electric appliances. The US and Taiwan, on the other hand, insist that the LCDs are IT products covered by the ITA and should therefore enjoy “duty free” status.
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab has threatened publicly to bring the case to the WTO and the US also hopes that Taiwan, the world’s No. 1 LCD producer, will join the legal battle against the EU.
Taiwan’s LCD trade union also filed a complaint with the government that their exports are unjustly levied by the EU and asked for assistance.
John Deng, chief representative of the Office of Trade Negotiations under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), confirmed yesterday that Taiwan is conducting what he called “thorough and comprehensive evaluation” of the case.
The office does not rule out the possibility of triggering the trade dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO.
But the top trade negotiator stressed that they would be “careful” in the decision-making process, since the case could very well become Taiwan’s first trade litigation in the WTO and involves huge commercial and trade interests.
Official tallies show the EU collected as much as NT$19.6 billion in import duty from Taiwanese LCD exports, valued at NT$140 billion.
Deng also noted that LCDs are one of Taiwan’s most import IT products and said that “the government bears unavoidable responsibility to use all possible tools to protect our industry and trade interests.”
The WTO’s trade dispute settlement procedure, often regarded as “the world court of trade,” is vital for enforcing the rules and therefore for ensuring that trade flows smoothly. But Taiwan has never been a party to any trade dispute, except for participating in other members’ litigation as a third party.
“Bringing the case to the WTO is not a goal but a last resort, “ Deng said, expressing hope that the EU will abide by the ITA to avoid WTO proceedings, which take at least a year for a preliminary ruling and another three months should the ruling be appealed. Such cases can drag on for years without any final settlement.
Chen Chern-chyi, a negotiator in legal affairs and rules, praised the team, saying that the prosecutors have adapted to a lonelier job without the media spotlight — something they were used to as criminal prosecutors.
TECH BOOST: New TSMC wafer fabs in Arizona are to dramatically improve US advanced chip production, a report by market research firm TrendForce said With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) pouring large funds into Arizona, the US is expected to see an improvement in its status to become the second-largest maker of advanced semiconductors in 2027, Taipei-based market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report last week. TrendForce estimates the US would account for a 21 percent share in the global advanced integrated circuit (IC) production market by 2027, sharply up from the current 9 percent, as TSMC is investing US$65 billion to build three wafer fabs in Arizona, the report said. TrendForce defined the advanced chipmaking processes as the 7-nanometer process or more
Who would not want a social media audience that grows without new content? During the three years she paused production of her short do-it-yourself (DIY) farmer’s lifestyle videos, Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi (李子柒), 34, has seen her YouTube subscribers increase to 20.2 million from about 14 million. While YouTube is banned in China, her fan base there — although not the size of YouTube’s MrBeast, who has 330 million subscribers — is close to 100 million across the country’s social media platforms Douyin (抖音), Sina Weibo (新浪微博) and Xiaohongshu (小紅書). When Li finally released new videos last week — ending what has
OPEN SCIENCE: International collaboration on math and science will persevere even if the incoming Trump administration imposes strict controls, Nvidia’s CEO said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said on Saturday that global cooperation in technology would continue even if the incoming US administration imposes stricter export controls on advanced computing products. US president-elect Donald Trump, in his first term in office, imposed restrictions on the sale of US technology to China citing national security — a policy continued under US President Joe Biden. The curbs forced Nvidia, the world’s leading maker of chips used for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, to change its product lineup in China. The US chipmaking giant last week reported record-high quarterly revenue on the back of strong AI chip
Qualcomm Inc’s interest in pursuing an acquisition of Intel Corp has cooled, people familiar with the matter said, upending what would have likely been one of the largest technology deals of all time. The complexities associated with acquiring all of Intel has made a deal less attractive to Qualcomm, said some of the people, asking not to be identified discussing confidential matters. It is always possible Qualcomm looks at pieces of Intel instead or rekindles its interest later, they added. Representatives for Qualcomm and Intel declined to comment. Qualcomm made a preliminary approach to Intel on a possible takeover, Bloomberg News and other media