11th Taiwan-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council Meeting Successfully Held

The 11th Taiwan-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council meeting was held at 7:00 am on 30 June via video conference and ended successfully in the afternoon of the same day. Deputy Trade Representative of Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) Jen-ni Yang and Terrence J. McCartin, Assistant Trade Representative from the United States Trade Representative (USTR), co-led the discussions. Executive Yuan’s Minister without Portfolio Chen-Chung Deng, Taiwan’s Representative to the US Bi-Khim Hsiao, and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen gave opening speeches.

Minister Deng, accompanied by Taiwan’s agencies that participated in the meeting, held a press conference to explain the results. Minister Deng said the meeting proceeded smoothly. Taiwan and the US fully communicated and exchanged ideas with each other. Both sides were satisfied with the discussion results and fully exchanged views on ways to strengthen the Taiwan-US economic and trade relations. They agreed to lay a good foundation for deepening bilateral economic and trade relations in the future. Minister Deng further pointed out that the US is Taiwan’s second-largest trade partner, and both share the same beliefs in democracy, freedom, and the rule of law. The Taiwan-US trade relationship is also fundamental to Taiwan’s economic development, and that the two sides should continue to move forward hand-in-hand.

The OTN noted that both sides had extensive discussions on intellectual property rights, supply chain, medical devices, digital trade, trade facilitation, finance, agriculture, environment, labor, and international cooperation in the meeting. Fruitful results have been achieved, and progress made in Taiwan-US bilateral trade relations.

The OTN further indicated that the US was quite pleased that Taiwan had been promoting and reforming international trade liberalization and international standard compliance in recent years and recognized the importance of bilateral trades. Hence, both sides agreed to continue promoting bilateral trades through relevant working groups within the TIFA framework. This means dialogues on trades between Taiwan and the US will remain open, which will also be the key task for both sides in the future.

At this meeting, the US representatives expressed their deep understanding of Taiwan’s willingness and determination to sign a bilateral trade agreement. They agreed TIFA meetings help strengthen the Taiwan-US trade relationship. This meeting has laid a good foundation for both sides to deepen the trade relationship.

Sources: Executive Yuan