TAIPEI: Taiwan’s hopes that it can come to a quick agreement with the United States to resolve the tariffs issue and last weekend already approached Washington to discuss the issue, a senior Taiwanese official said on Wednesday.
Taiwan has responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 32% tariff on island with an offer of zero tariffs, more investment in the country and purchases from it, and said it will not retaliate.
Speaking to reporters at parliament, Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen said the government’s position was not to take retaliatory measures, but to come up with more specific solutions.
President Lai Ching-te has instructed officials to initiate “strategic communication” between Taiwan and the United States, he added.
“So last weekend, we used channels to talk to the U.S. to reflect our position on Taiwan-U.S. tariff negotiations and some of our proposals,“ Tsai said, without giving details.
Lai has held many meetings with officials to discuss the detailed response, including how to strengthen investment or procurement in the United States, he added.
“I think that through this more comprehensive negotiation preparation, we hope that once the United States agrees that Taiwan and the U.S. can have a related negotiation process, the two sides can quickly come to an agreement to promote the progress of the relevant negotiation.”
The tariffs have hammered Taiwan’s stock market.
The government on Tuesday evening announced the activation of its $15 billion stock stabilisation fund to restore investor confidence and ensure market stability.
The benchmark stock index was down around 1.5% on Wednesday, after hefty losses in the two previous sessions.
Shares in top chipmaker TSMC were flat, while Apple supplier Foxconn’s shares dropped around 4%.
