Taiwan says US tariffs unreasonable, partly blames Trump policies for trade surplus

TAIPEI – Taiwan’s government said on April 3 that US tariffs levied on the island were unreasonable, and it would discuss them with Washington, partly blaming US tech curbs on China in President Donald Trump’s first term for driving the trade imbalance.

Mr Trump on April 2 announced across the board import tariffs

, with much higher duties for dozens of trading partners, including Taiwan which runs a large trade surplus with the United States and will have a 32 per cent duty placed on its products.

The US tariffs, however, do not apply to semiconductors, a major Taiwan export.

Taiwan’s Cabinet said in a statement that it regretted the “unreasonable” US tariffs, and it would seek clarification and continue talks with Washington to ensure Taiwan’s interests were protected.

How the United States has calculated the tariffs was unclear and did not reflect the complementary trade structure between the two sides, the Cabinet said.

Taiwan’s exports to and trade surplus with the US have increased because of US demand for semiconductors and artificial intelligence-related products, as well as Mr Trump’s first-term tariffs and controls on China, it added.

This resulted in “the shift of Taiwan’s supply chain back to Taiwan and an increase in US demand for Taiwan’s information and communications products, reflecting the huge contribution of Taiwan to the US economy and national security”, the Cabinet said.

During Mr Trump’s first term in office from 2017 to 2021, he placed some Chinese companies on trade blacklists that curbed their access to crucial US hardware and software, benefiting US ally Taiwan as orders shifted to Taiwanese firms.

Taiwanese government officials have repeatedly said trade with the US has been skewed by an insatiable demand for Taiwanese technology products, such as advanced semiconductors, a sector dominated by the island, home to major chipmaker TSMC.

TSMC announced in March a new

US$100 billion (S$134 billion) investment

in the US.

The company declined to comment on the tariffs, saying it is in its quiet period ahead of its first-quarter earnings on April 17.

In a separate statement after the tariff announcement, the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan said it continued to stress Taiwan’s “indispensable” role in the US economy.

“In a time of growing geopolitical complexity, the US-Taiwan partnership is not only a driver of shared economic prosperity but also central to supply chain security and regional stability,” it said in a statement.

Mr Trump’s announcement followed the end of the latest round of Chinese war games around Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory despite the objections of Taipei’s government.

The United States is Taiwan’s most important international backer but does not formally recognise its government, having diplomatic ties only with China.

Still, the White House-provided list of tariff targets, which Mr Trump held up at his press conference, listed Taiwan as a “country”, along with the European Union, which is a trade bloc of 27 member states. REUTERS