“Excellent progress” is being made on Taipei-Washington trade negotiations following the signing of the first agreement under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade in June, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) said on Thursday.
Tai made the comments during an interview with Bloomberg’s David Westin at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington.
In its trade negotiations, the US is trying “to be responsive to the data and the feedback that we are receiving from the world economy,” as many changes are occurring simultaneously in the world, she said.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
Washington is pursuing trade agreements designed to meet both sides’ interests, but “also tailored to the challenges and the dynamics that we are navigating together in the global economy,” she added.
The first agreement covered five areas: customs administration and trade facilitation, regulatory practices, services domestic regulation, preventing corruption, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
After the agreement was signed, “the US Congress in a fit of enthusiasm — even though they weren’t legally required to — took a vote on it to show their support for what we are doing here,” Tai said.
“We are negotiating another set of disciplines, right as we speak, [and] we’ve been making excellent progress,” she said.
Washington would continue to look into building on those areas to create an arrangement with Taiwan that is fit for “challenging” times, she said.
Regarding whether the US would eventually sign a free-trade agreement with Taiwan, Tai said that if a free-trade agreement is considered a traditional approach “to a very comprehensive, and maximally and aggressively liberalizing agreement,” then “no.”
“We’re not doing that with anybody right now. It’s actually insensitive to the dynamics in the global economy and the US economy ... to push on with that program, which may have been fit for the ’80s and the ’90s,” she said.
“It’s 2023. We need new policies,” in light of innovations such as artificial intelligence as well as challenges, including supply chain disruption and geopolitical tensions, she added.
Washington is “embracing innovation in [its] trade policy” that is different from the “old-style trade agreements that we used to do,” Tai said.
In other developments, Taiwan and the US on Friday held their fourth Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue with virtual and in-person meetings in Taipei and Washington.
Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) and US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jose Fernandez led the online dialogue. Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) also led a delegation to the US for a meeting in Washington.
The dialogue featured extensive discussions on responding to economic coercion, supply chain investment, secure and sustainable energy transition, and areas of possible cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The two sides are to bolster the resilience and security of the supply chain for critical minerals, and cooperate on expanding talent training for the semiconductor industry to meet the development needs of artificial intelligence and the smart automation of industries, it said.
On efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Taiwan and the US also agreed to hold more exchanges on energy transition, and drafted plans on tasks to be undertaken over the next two years, it said.
The two sides were also positive about the progress being made toward signing an agreement to avoid double taxation, it added.
The first Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue was held in November 2020 under the auspices of the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to advance cooperation on a broad range of economic issues, and forge closer ties between the two economies.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS