《TAIPEI TIMES》Taiwan, US to hold first trade initiative talks

Staff writer, with CNA

Photo: Reuters

The first round of negotiations under a new trade initiative between Taiwan and the US is scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday in New York, a government source said yesterday.

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Taiwan’s delegation for the talks, with an agenda that could include issues related to trade facilitation and agriculture, is to be led by Office of Trade Negotiations Deputy Trade Representative Yang Jen-ni （楊珍妮）, the person said on condition of anonymity.

The delegation is to be composed of officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the representative office in the US, the person said.

Taipei and Washington in August said that both sides would begin the first round of negotiations under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade in the fall, with the aim of working toward a trade agreement with “high-standard” commitments and “economically meaningful outcomes” in 11 areas.

Trade facilitation, regulatory practices, anti-corruption measures, small and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture, trade standards, digital trade, labor, the environment, state-owned enterprises, and nonmarket policies and practices are to be discussed.

Taipei is hoping that a trade agreement can be signed before the US hosts the annual APEC meeting next year, the person said.

The US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade was unveiled by the countries’ trade officials in June after Taiwan was excluded from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a US-led multilateral partnership involving 12 other countries, which has been touted as a counterweight to China-initiated trade deals made with countries in the region.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES