Taiwan eyes zero tariffs with US, pledges more investment

Ben Blanchard - Reuters - 06/04
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te on Sunday offered zero tariffs as the basis for talks with the U.S., pledging to remove trade barriers rather than imposing reciprocal measures and saying Taiwanese companies will raise their U.S. investments.
  • Taiwan president proposes zero tariffs as basis for US trade talks
  • President says Taiwan won't retaliate against US tariffs
  • Taiwan will buy more from the US, president says
  • US is Taiwan's most important international partner
TAIPEI, April 6 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te on Sunday offered zero tariffs as the basis for talks with the U.S., pledging to remove trade barriers rather than imposing reciprocal measures and saying Taiwanese companies will raise their U.S. investments.
President Donald Trump announced across-the-board import tariffs on Wednesday, with much higher duties for dozens of trading partners, including Taiwan, which runs a large trade surplus with the U.S. and faces a 32% duty on its products.

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The U.S. tariffs, however, do not apply to semiconductors, a major Taiwanese export.
Meeting executives from small and medium-sized companies at his residence, Lai said given Taiwan's dependence on trade the economy would inevitably have a hard time dealing with the tariffs, but that he thought the impact could be minimised.
"Tariff negotiations can start with 'zero tariffs' between Taiwan and the United States, with reference to the U.S.-Canada-Mexico free trade agreement," Lai said.
Taiwan has no plans to take tariff retaliation, and there will be no change in Taiwanese companies' investment commitments to the United States as long as they are...
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