TAIPEI – Taiwan “will not agree” to making 50 percent of its semiconductors in the United States, the island’s lead tariff negotiator said Wednesday, as Washington pressures Taipei to produce more chips on US soil.
Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said he had proposed to Taiwan a 50-50 split in chip production.
“I want to clarify that this is the US’s idea. Our negotiation team has never made a 50-50 commitment to a chip split,” Cheng told reporters in Taipei.
“Please be rest assured that we did not discuss this issue this time, and we will not agree to such a condition,” she said.
Cheng spoke after returning from Washington where she said negotiations over US tariffs on Taiwanese shipments “made some progress.” AFP
Taiwan is struggling to finalize a tariff deal with Washington, after President Donald Trump’s administration imposed a temporary 20 percent levy that has alarmed the island’s manufacturers.
Trump has also threatened to put a “fairly substantial tariff” on semiconductors coming into the country.
Soaring demand for AI-related technology has fueled Taiwan’s trade surplus with the United States — and put it in Trump’s crosshairs.
More than 70 percent of the island’s exports to the United States are information and communications technology, which includes chips, the cabinet said in a statement Wednesday. AFP
