Taiwan and the US have concluded negotiations on the first phase of the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, which is expected to be signed by the two sides in the coming weeks, the Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday.
The initiative’s First Agreement is comprised of eight chapters and more than 80 articles, and is being called the most detailed trade agreement signed between Taiwan and the US since 1979, when formal bilateral ties were severed.
The office described the document as a milestone that would serve as a crucial “building block” in efforts to negotiate a free-trade agreement between the countries, and shows that Taiwan’s trade system meets high international standards.
Photo: CNA
Unlike standard trade pacts, this initial agreement does not cover tariff reductions or exemptions. It outlines practices and procedures related to a host of topics aimed at streamlining and strengthening trade relations.
The areas covered were customs and trade facilitation, regulatory practices, domestic regulation of services, anti-corruption practices, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Under the new deal, the two sides have committed to working to facilitate bilateral trade and investment flows, improve regulatory practices, promote anti-corruption measures and minimize unnecessary formalities at the border.
It also establishes a foundation for addressing trade and investment challenges and opportunities.
Most of the provisions offer measures aimed at small, incremental improvements.
For example, on trade facilitation measures, the office said that by using a digital declaration and risk assessment system, goods that meet the criteria, such as products with a short shelf life, would be allowed to clear customs on arrival.
The agreement requires both sides to improve coordination on adopting regulatory practices, including adopting the digitization of paperwork, and taking into account the potential effect of regulations on small and medium-sized enterprises, the office said.
These measures are expected to benefit communications companies, medical equipment manufacturers and pharmaceutical firms, which are subject to strict regulatory standards.
As for anti-corruption practices, the office said that Taiwan and the US introduced guidelines on preventing and combating corruption in all areas affecting trade and investment, which should benefit exporters, contractors that have undertaken projects overseas and private companies that engage in business with government agencies.
Although the First Agreement is seen as a milestone, the Executive Yuan said that at least seven areas remain on the agenda for bilateral negotiations, which it plans to finalize by the end of this year.
These would include issues on labor standards and the environment.
The conclusions reached during future talks would be added to the First Agreement to lay an even more solid foundation, the Executive Yuan said in a statement.
No time frame was given for when the next meeting would be.
“We are glad to see that we can conclude the negotiations over the first five trade agendas in such a short time,” Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) told reporters. “This indicates that Taiwan and the US are deepening trade exchanges.”
The US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade was launched on June 1 last year, and two rounds of negotiations have since been held in New York and Taipei, along with several videoconferences.
“This accomplishment represents an important step forward in strengthening the US-Taiwan economic relationship,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) said in a statement on Thursday.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat