TAIPEI: Taiwan “is not going to agree” to creating 50 per cent of its semiconductors in america, the island’s lead tariff negotiator mentioned on Wednesday (Oct 1), as Washington pressures Taipei to supply extra chips on US soil.
Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun’s remarks got here after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick mentioned he had proposed to Taiwan a 50-50 cut up in chip manufacturing.
“I wish to make clear that that is the US’ concept. Our negotiation crew has by no means made a 50-50 dedication to a chip cut up,” Cheng informed reporters in Taipei.
“Please be relaxation assured that we didn’t talk about this difficulty this time, and we is not going to conform to such a situation,” she mentioned.
Cheng spoke after getting back from Washington the place she mentioned negotiations over US tariffs on Taiwanese shipments “made some progress”.
Taiwan is struggling to finalise a tariff cope with Washington, after President Donald Trump’s administration imposed a brief 20 per cent levy that has alarmed the island’s producers.
Trump has additionally threatened to place a “pretty substantial tariff” on semiconductors coming into the nation.
Hovering demand for AI-related expertise has fuelled Taiwan’s commerce surplus with america – and put it in Trump’s crosshairs.
Greater than 70 per cent of the island’s exports to america are data and communications expertise, which incorporates chips, the cupboard mentioned in a press release on Wednesday.
In a bid to keep away from the tariffs, Taipei has pledged to extend funding in america, purchase extra of its power and improve its personal defence spending to greater than 3 per cent of gross home product.
