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Talks on the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement have resumed after being paused since 2016. Photo: Reuters

Taiwan, US resume trade talks with commitment to meetings and cooperation

  • Covid-19 vaccines and chip supply chain among the matters discussed as the two sides revive negotiations that halted under the Trump administration
  • Deal with United States has long been an aim for the island since it may encourage other countries to follow suit
Taiwan
Taiwan and the US have committed to hold a series of meetings this year to iron out differences on trade practices and discuss cooperation in a range of areas, including the chip supply chain and custom manufacture of American vaccines.
The commitment came after the two sides on Wednesday resumed their long-stalled Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) talks with a virtual meeting, in which Taiwan’s chief trade negotiator expressed the island’s wish for a future bilateral trade pact.

“What was most important in the meeting [on Wednesday] was the reaching of a mutual commitment that our two sides would set up different working-level groups to discuss a variety of issues throughout the year,” John Deng, head of Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations, said in Taipei.

Deng said the commitment was significant after a five-year pause in the TIFA talks, and the working-level meetings would help to deepen mutual consensus and broaden US-Taiwan trade relations.

US trade representative Katherine Tai had agreed with her Taiwanese counterpart to restart the negotiations. Photo: TNS
The two sides had last held TIFA talks when Barack Obama was US president, but they had been paused since 2016 until US trade representative Katherine Tai and her Taiwanese counterpart Deng agreed earlier this month to restart the negotiations.

During Wednesday’s meeting, which lasted eight hours, the two sides discussed the chip supply chain and its security, intellectual property rights, digital trade, medicine and medical equipment, trade facilitation, transparency in regulations and investment.

They also discussed the non-market economy, financial services, labour rights and welfare, as well as environmental protection, said Taiwan’s deputy trade negotiator, Yang Jen-ni, who led the talks along with Terrence McCartin, the assistant US trade representative for China affairs.

Further discussions on those issues would continue in the working-level meetings, Yang said.

Timeline: Taiwan’s relations with mainland China under Tsai Ing-wen

Hsueh Jui-yuan, the Taiwanese vice-minister of health, said the two sides also discussed simplifying the import and export of Covid-19 vaccines.

“We also brought up the issue of custom manufacture of the vaccines by our side, as well as related supply chain issues, and the US side agreed to have further talks in working-level meetings next time,” he said.

Deng said that unlike in previous TIFA talks, when the US often faulted Taiwan’s trade practices, the American side took a positive view of Taiwan’s efforts to remove its trade barriers, helping to facilitate future talks.

He said Taiwan’s lifting in January of its ban on US pork containing food addictive ractopamine was a major reason why the US was willing to resume TIFA talks.

“We told the US side in the meeting that Taiwan hopes to sign a bilateral trade agreement with the US,” Deng said, adding that this was the island’s ultimate goal for the TIFA talks.

A trade deal with the US has long been an aim for Taiwan, because it could encourage other countries to sign similar pacts with the island. Taipei has entered free-trade deals with New Zealand and Singapore, but many other countries are wary of doing so because of pressure from Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of its territory.

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In a statement after the talks, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said US officials had discussed opportunities for the two sides to work together on key trade and environmental issues, such as combating wildlife trafficking and exploring trade tools to tackle the climate crisis.

“Both sides welcomed the resumption of high-level trade engagement and expressed a desire to work closely together, not only on ways to deepen the US-Taiwan trade and investment relationship but also as democratic partners in support of a worker-centred trade policy and in seeking to combat forced labour in global supply chains,” the USTR said.

“For that purpose, the two sides agreed to the formation of a new labour working group under the TIFA,” it said, adding that the two sides had highlighted cooperation in international forums such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and the World Trade Organization, and discussed the importance of secure and resilient supply chains.

“Both sides also emphasised Taiwan’s role as a partner with the United States in reforming the multilateral trading system and expressed support for joint work to enhance critical supply chain security and resilience,” it said.

Before the talks, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said making it easier to import and export Covid-19 vaccines would be an important area for discussion.
The island is dealing with its worst outbreak of cases since the pandemic began and is struggling to expedite enough vaccine doses for its population of 23.5 million.

“Cooperation in this area will give a big boost to Taiwan in fighting the pandemic,” Tsai said.

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Two weeks ago, Taipei said officials from Taiwanese companies Foxconn and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing would negotiate on its behalf for vaccines, and on Monday, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she had spoken with the head of TSMC.

“He asked for help in that regard [getting access to vaccines]; he has spoken to high-level officials in the White House,” Raimondo was quoted by Reuters as saying. “We have responded and we definitely want to be a good partner and I do think it’s helping.”

Taiwan and the US held 10 high-level TIFA meetings between 1994 and October 2016.

During the last meeting, the two sides discussed agriculture, regional cooperation, intellectual property rights, trade barriers and transparency.

But the talks stopped under the Donald Trump administration because the then trade representative Robert Lighthizer regarded Taiwanese blocks on US exports as an unfair trade practice, and his main focus was a broad trade deal with Beijing.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: US, Taiwan resume trade talks after 5-year pause
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