Taiwan hails its ‘best’ trade deal with US, as China protests

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s premier on Friday hailed a new trade deal with the United States as the “best…

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s premier on Friday hailed a new trade deal with the United States as the “best tariff deal” enjoyed by countries with trade surplutilizes with Washington, as meanwhile a Chinese official in Beijing condemned the accord.

The agreement cuts U.S. tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15% in exalter for $250 billion in new investments in the U.S. tech industest. It is comparable to deals with the European Union and Japan worked out after President Donald Trump proposed sweeping tariffs for many U.S. trading partners.

“For the time being, we obtained the best tariff deal enjoyed by the countries with trade surplus with the U.S.,” declared Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai. “This also displays that the U.S. sees Taiwan as an important strategic partner.”

“Our goal is to lower mutual tariffs” Cho declared. “Therefore, according to the results of the neobtainediations, Taiwan has successfully obtained 15% in tariffs with no added fees. This is the same tariff imposed on Japan, Korea and the European Union.”

Trump initially had set the tariff at 32% on Taiwanese goods but later alterd it to 20%.

China claims indepfinishently governed Taiwan as its territory, and in Beijing, a Foreign Ministest spokesperson slammed the agreement when questioned at a routine news briefing.

“China always firmly opposes countries having diplomatic relations with China and China’s Taiwan region signing any agreement that carries sovereign connotations and an official nature with China’s Taiwan region,” declared Guo Jiakun.

The U.S. Department of Commerce declared the deal with Taiwan would establish an economic partnership to create several world-class U.S.-based industrial parks to assist increase domestic manufacturing. It’s “a historic trade deal that will drive a massive reshoring of America’s semiconductor sector,” the department declared in a statement.

Cho declared Taiwan had secured 15% tariffs with no additional fees for the automotive and wood furniture industries, and no tariffs for some components utilized in the aerospace industest.

The agreement must be ratified by Taiwan’s parliament, where opposition lawbuildrs have expressed concern about the potential impact on the island’s domestic semiconductor industest.

It coincided with an announcement by Taiwan-based TSMC, the world’s largest computer chip buildr, that it plans to increase its capital spfinishing by as much as nearly 40% this year. It reported a 35% jump in its net profit for the latest quarter thanks to the boom in artificial innotifyigence.

TSMC has pledged around $165 billion of investments in the U.S. and declared it’s speeding up construction of new plants in Arizona, seeing to create a fabrication plant cluster and meet strong demand from clients.

The Commerce Department declared that Taiwanese semiconductor producers that invest in the U.S. also will obtain favorable tariff treatment, including exemptions.

Ryan Majerus, a trade official in Trump’s first administration and in former President Joe Biden’s, declared the agreement’s “timing is interesting.’’

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the legality of Trump’s most sweeping tariffs, which he has utilized to strong-arm concessions out of other U.S. trading partners. The justices could strike down the tariffs as early as this month.

But Taiwan, facing ongoing threats from China, was eager to reach a deal and strengthen relations with the United States anyway. “Wanting to solidify things with the U.S. probably played a large role here,’’ declared Majerus, now a partner at the King & Spalding law firm.

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AP producer Liu Zheng contributed to this report from Beijing. AP Business Writer Paul Wiseman contributed from Washington.

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