Taiwan becomes 7th largest U.S. trading partner in 2024

Taipei, March 9 (CNA) Taiwan ranked as the United States' seventh-largest trading partner in 2024, moving up one spot from the previous year, with two-way trade increasing by more than 24 percent year-on-year, according to an Executive Yuan trade report.

Bilateral trade between Taiwan and the U.S. reached US$158.6 billion in 2024, up 24.2 percent from 2023, the report said citing data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. It noted that Taiwan-U.S. trade accounted for 2.97 percent of total U.S. trade.

The report also showed that U.S. exports to Taiwan totaled US$42.336 billion in 2024, up 6 percent from a year earlier, while imports from Taiwan increased 32.5 percent to US$116.2 billion.

As such, the U.S. had a trade deficit of US$73.92 billion with Taiwan, an increase of 54.6 percent year-on-year and Washington's sixth largest deficit with a trading partner, according to the report.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has attributed the increase in Taiwan's exports to the U.S. to the effects of the trade war between Washington and Beijing, the government's policy to encourage overseas Taiwanese businesses to invest in Taiwan, and AI-driven demand for information and communications technology (ICT) devices.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the MOEA citing Taiwan customs data said that in 2024, automatic data processing equipment/components and integrated circuits (ICs) ranked as the top two export products to the U.S.

Automatic data processing equipment/components ranked first among Taiwan's exports to the U.S. in 2024, with an export value of US$51.494 billion, representing growth of 140.29 percent and accounting for 46.24 percent of total U.S.-bound exports, according to the MOEA report.

ICs followed, with an export value of approximately US$7.4 billion, marking a year-on-year increase of 111.66 percent and making up 6.65 percent of total U.S.-bound exports, according to the report.

The U.S. was Taiwan's 7th largest IC export market in 2024, according to the MOEA report.