Cabinet to seek cross-party support for U.S. trade pact, MOU: Source

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) The Cabinet will seek cross-party support for the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) between Taiwan and the United States, as well as an accompanying memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in January, a source told CNA Saturday.

Under Taiwan's Conclusion of Treaties Act, the Cabinet is legally required to send the ART to the opposition-controlled Legislature for review, and the source, who asked not to be named, said the government would obey the law.

The Cabinet will also voluntarily send the nonbinding MOU to lawmakers for review, the source added. The MOU pledges US$250 billion in investment in the United States by Taiwanese semiconductor, electronics manufacturing service (EMS), AI, and energy companies, along with up to US$250 billion in government credit guarantees to facilitate the investments.

Following the signing of the ART, the Cabinet will report to the public and explain the full contents of the agreement, the source said.

On Jan. 20, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who led the Taiwanese team in the negotiations with the U.S., said in a news conference that Taipei and Washington are expected to sign the ART within the coming weeks.

On Friday, Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) said that American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene had told him the tariff agreement could be signed as early as mid-February.

Chiang added that the Legislative Yuan is expected to review and pass the pact as soon as possible, with the aim of stabilizing local industrial development.

The U.S. made a verbal commitment on Jan. 15 to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent from 20 percent without stacking them on existing most-favored-nation (MFN) rates.

Washington has also agreed in principle to grant semiconductors and related products the most favorable treatment under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.

(Lai Yu-chen and Frances Huang)Enditem/ASG