New U.S. president won't affect trade, tax talks: Taiwanese officials

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) Taiwanese officials have said that they believed talks on a Taiwan-United States trade and double taxation deal would not be impacted by the election of a new U.S. president.

The Executive Yuan's Office of Trade Negotiations told CNA that Taiwan and the U.S. have been in close communication over the first agreement in the "U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade" that was signed by both sides in June 2023.

The office said the Taiwanese government is optimistic that the first agreement will take effect before the end of this year, as long as it gets the approval of the U.S. Congress.

This initial agreement covered areas of customs administration and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, anticorruption and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In the meantime, the office said the second-phase negotiations of the initiative would focus on agriculture, labor and the environment.

So far, both governments have completed two rounds of in-person meetings and reached a consensus on a number of issues, it noted.

The office added that it is still uncertain if both sides will hold a third round of meetings soon.

It said that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump did not mention the Taiwan-U.S. trade talks during their presidential campaigns, and that enhancing Taiwan-U.S. trade relations has always enjoyed bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress.

The office said it is confident the ongoing bilateral talks on the initiative would continue to proceed.

According to both governments' press releases, Washington and Taipei launched the "U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade" in August 2022 to deepen their trade and investment relationship, advance mutual trade priorities, and promote innovation and inclusive economic growth for workers and businesses.

Aside from the trade initiative, the U.S. and Taiwan announced last month that they would begin negotiations on a comprehensive agreement to address double taxation issues "in coming weeks."

"It [a comprehensive tax agreement] will reduce double taxation barriers for further investment by Taiwan into the United States, and vice versa, particularly for the SMEs that are crucial to a complete semiconductor ecosystem," a U.S. Department of the Treasury press release issued on Oct. 29 said.

Asked by CNA if the pending talks on a double taxation deal were still on track to be held as scheduled, an unnamed official at Taiwan's Ministry of Finance said both the current U.S. administration and Congress across the political divide have supported the proposed deal.

The unnamed official said that the U.S. Department of the Treasury was keen to hold the first round of the talks and that the Taiwanese government will make every effort to eliminate tax barriers to bilateral investment and trade.

As of 7:40 p.m. on Wednesday (Taipei time), Trump had secured 277 Electoral College votes, surpassing the 270 needed to win the race, while his main opponent Harris trailed with 224 votes, according to the Associated Press.