Taiwan’s top trade negotiator has said that a senior US official’s call to shift half of the island’s chip production to the United States is not possible.
Taiwan Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun, who has just returned home, responded on Wednesday to a “chips for protection” pitch by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, saying the government on the island, which is the world’s top producer of advanced computer chips, would not agree to such a proposal.
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told US television network News Nation over the weekend that Washington’s pitch to Taiwan would be a 50-50 split in making chips, the vast majority of which are now made on the island.
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Cheng Li-chun, who is leading tariff talks with Washington, told reporters upon getting back to the island that she had not discussed the 50-50 idea suggested by the US during the talks.
“Our negotiating team has never made any commitment to a 50-50 split on chips. Rest assured, we did not discuss this issue during this round of talks, nor would we agree to such conditions,” she said, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency.
Neither the US Commerce Department nor the Office of the United States Trade Representative responded to requests for comment sent outside of US business hours.
Taiwan, home to the world’s biggest contract chipmaker TSMC, runs a large trade surplus with the United States. The island’s exports to the United States are currently subject to a 20% tariff.
TSMC, whose business is surging on strong demand for artificial intelligence applications, is investing $165 billion to build chip factories in the US state of Arizona, though the bulk of its production is still in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s government said last month that it hoped for a more favourable tariff rate from the United States after talks achieved “certain progress”.
Speaking in parliament in Taipei on Tuesday, Premier Cho Jung-tai said Cheng had had multiple talks with the United States on tariff issues.
“The most critical substantive consultations are currently underway,” he said.
Cheng, speaking at the airport, said that “detailed” discussions had taken place which yielded “certain progress”, the Central News Agency added.
- Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard
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