Economics officials to meet with Trump's team to avoid 100% tariff on chips

Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) Two senior officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will visit Washington and meet with U.S. President Donald Trump's team in an effort to prevent the imposition of tariffs potentially as high as 100 percent on chips from Taiwan.

Economics Minister Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) disclosed the upcoming trip to the press ahead of a Taipei forum on Saturday, one day after Trump said he is going to announce the reciprocal tariffs on many additional countries next week.

The two officials are Deputy Economics Minister Cynthia Kiang (江文若) and Chen Pei-li (陳佩利), deputy director general of the ministry's Industrial Development Administration, according to MOEA officials.

Kuo said that the main goal of the visit will be to clarify to the Trump administration that Taiwan has never "stolen" U.S. chips or technology.

"We paid for all intellectual property," he explained, referencing Taiwan's signing of an integrated circuit technology transfer and licensing contract with Radio Corporation of America in the 1970s to introduce semiconductor technology into the country.

"Taiwan is the United States' best partner," Kuo emphasized, noting that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the largest contract chip maker in the world, and U.S. companies are dependent on each other.

In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intended to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the U.S. "The incentive is going to be they're not going to want to pay a 25, 50, or even a 100 percent tax," he said.

However, Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河), chairman of Wealth Magazine, doubted the effectiveness of dispatching officials to the U.S.

At the same event on Saturday, Hsieh argued that Trump would not impose such steep tariffs on TSMC as he had claimed, noting that "the U.S.' main enemy is China."

Instead of sending government officials to meet with Trump's officials and aides, Hsieh argued that TSMC should play a more pivotal role. He proposed that TSMC invite Trump to its wafer fab in Arizona as a friendly gesture.

"Perhaps [TSMC] should remind Trump that it was [the U.S.] that invited the company to build the factory there," Hsieh said.