No bumps in trade talks with U.S.: Source

Taipei, July 9 (CNA) Amid ongoing uncertainty over the status of trade talks between Taiwan and the United States, a national security source said Wednesday the talks have not stalled and are not facing any bumps.

The Donald Trump administration listed 14 countries on Monday (U.S. time) that have been threatened with tariffs of between 25 percent and 40 percent starting Aug. 1 if they did not reach a deal, but Taiwan was not on the list.

The 14 countries on the list were there because the United States felt trade negotiations with them had not made progress, were not successful, or were not worth continuing, the source said.

"But discussions between Taiwan and the U.S. still continue without any bumps," the source said. "It was good for Taiwan not to be one of the 14 countries so we can keep talking to resolve differences."

Former Vice Premier Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) has questioned whether the negotiations were in fact as smooth as the source implied, writing on Facebook Monday that there were issues because Taiwan was not willing to remove non-trade barriers on imports of U.S. pork and beef.

Taiwan was also reluctant to sharply lower tariffs on U.S.-made autos but offered to cut the auto commodity tax instead, which the U.S. rejected, Shih said.

The source declined to comment on Shih's remarks, but said the two sides continued to negotiate but needed more time.

Where that will lead is not clear, but Trump, in typical reality TV mode, teased that more announcements on the status of trade negotiations would be made Wednesday U.S. time.

"We will be releasing a minimum of 7 countries having to do with trade, tomorrow morning, with an additional number of countries being released in the afternoon," Trump wrote Tuesday on his Truth Social account.

Meanwhile, the source said President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) has been kept up to date on the talks' progress.

Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said Lai held a 50-minute video conference with Taiwan's negotiating team late Monday night.

He urged the delegation to seek reasonable tariffs for Taiwan while protecting the public's health and food security, and also reach a deal that balanced bilateral trade with strengthening cooperation in technology and national security.

When Trump first unleashed chaos with his "reciprocal" tariffs on April 2, they included a 32 percent across-the-board tariffs on goods made in Taiwan, which was even higher than the tariff on Taiwan's main export market competitors Japan (25 percent) and South Korea (24 percent).

A 90-day pause on the tariffs were announced on April 9, and the deadline has arrived with few trade deals reached.