The government will not accept “unfair” US tariffs on Taiwan’s chips, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday.
Kuo declined to expand on the comments, saying that any elaboration might affect ongoing negotiations.
He described the tariff issue as a “negotiation strategy” of US President Donald Trump.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
It was more important to focus on what Trump hopes to gain, he said, adding that as the US president wants fair competition, tariff negotiations were the quickest route.
Kuo said he has hosted discussions with hundreds of businesses on US tariffs and their possible influence on domestic industries, providing Taiwan’s negotiators the basic demands and issues businesses have raised.
“Taiwan is helping your [trade partners] industries to make money, not making money from you,” he said, adding that it would benefit Taiwan’s participation in international technology and economic events if its trade partners understood that.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Cynthia Kiang (江文若) visited the US earlier this month to collect information to more accurately pinpoint what Washington wants and enhance negotiations, Kuo said.
On Tuesday, he told the legislature that a 100 percent tariff was “not unnecessarily unreasonable,” a remark that has raised eyebrows by some people, but the minister did not elaborate on it yesterday.
US media have reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to US companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp, has been in talks for a stake in Intel Corp as pressures from Trump’s new policies toward Taiwan’s chip industry increase.
Neither TSMC nor Intel has confirmed the reports and the Ministry of Economic Affairs said it had not received information about any overseas investment application from TSMC.
Trump has accused Taiwan of taking away the US’ semiconductor business, saying he wants the industry to manufacture more in the US.
The ministry said in a statement yesterday that the government’s primary concern was fair practices that allow Taiwan to maintain its advantages over its competitors.
The Mainland Affairs Council also said in a statement that TSMC was an “important Taiwanese company.”
“In response to the challenges posed by Trump’s new policies toward our semiconductor industry and TSMC, our government will work closely with industry to maintain Taiwan’s leading position in the field of advanced technology,” the council said, without elaborating.
Additional reporting by Reuters
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE: The group is proposing a consortium of investors, with Tesla as the largest backer, and possibly a minority investment by Hon Hai Precision Nissan Motor Co shares jumped after the Financial Times reported that a high-level Japanese group has drawn up plans to seek investment from Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc to aid the struggling automaker. The group believes the electric vehicle (EV) maker is interested in acquiring Nissan’s plants in the US, the newspaper reported, citing people it did not identify. The proposal envisions a consortium of investors, with Tesla as the largest backer, but also includes the possibility of a minority investment by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) to prevent a full takeover by the Apple supplier, the report said. The group is
RSS