President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday reassured the public that Taiwan’s economic fundamentals are strong enough to withstand the effects of an increase in US tariffs on certain Chinese products, but called on overseas Taiwanese firms to return home amid a renewed trade war between the US and China.
“Starting today, the US is to increase tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent, which could have a tremendous impact on the world economy,” Tsai told a news conference following a high-level national security meeting to discuss countermeasures as Washington and Beijing enter a new round of tariffs.
Fortunately, the trade war’s effects on Taiwan remain limited, given that the goods covered by current punitive US tariffs do not include Taiwan’s main export products, she said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan’s solid economic foundation in the past few years would also allow it to better respond to the heightened trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies, she added.
Tsai cited as examples the nation’s 12 consecutive quarters of economic growth, increased overseas investment and more than NT$250 billion (US$8.1 billion) of repatriated investments by Taiwanese businesses so far this year.
As the ongoing US-China trade war is bound to affect the existing global trading order and supply chain, Taiwan must choose the correct path for economic development, she said.
“Our goals are to expedite the return of overseas Taiwanese businesses, rebuild our high added-value industries, facilitate comprehensive industrial upgrading and push for the signing of a bilateral trade agreement with the US that adheres to the principles of free and fair trade,” Tsai said.
The government would also work to replace products manufactured in China with those of high value and quality made in Taiwan, seeking to turn the nation into a major exporter of goods to the US, she said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS