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
