Taipei will help Taiwanese firms relocate their China-based production plants if President-elect Donald Trump carries out his threat to impose a 60 percent tariff on Chinese-made goods, the island’s economic ministry said Thursday.
A person walking by Taiwan flag installation ahead of National Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan, 06 October, 2021. Photo: Walid Berrazeg/HKFP.
During the election campaign, Trump vowed to get tougher on China, promising to slap 60 percent tariffs on all Chinese goods entering the United States.
“We will come up with some assistance very soon to our Taiwanese business people on how to transfer their production bases so they would not be subjected to a 60 percent tariff,” Taiwan Economic Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told a parliamentary committee.
Kuo did not provide further details on the measures.
Many Taiwanese companies have set up factories in China during the country’s economic opening over the last four decades, but investment has fallen sharply in recent years owing to regional tech disputes.
Workers outside a Foxconn facility in Shenzhen. Photo: Sina
Between 2019 and 2021, as a trade war raged between Beijing and Washington, Taipei offered Taiwanese businesses in China incentives to return to the island.
They included two years free rent in the economic ministry’s industrial zones, labour subsidies and cheaper loans.
Trump has described “tariff” as the most beautiful word in the dictionary and his second presidential term promises sweeping measures on all US$3 trillion worth of US imported goods.
He has promised at least a 10 percent tariff on all imports, and a higher level of 60 percent or more on Chinese goods.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that Beijing and Washington must find a way to “get along” in a message to Trump, state media reported.
“A stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship is in the common interest of both countries and is in line with the expectations of the international community,” Xi said.
