The government says it will not lift a ban on US pork imports containing the additive ractopamine.
Vice Economics Minister Cho Shih-chao made the comments in a press conference on Friday. Cho is in the United States to attend talks under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
Cho said that the US hopes Taiwan will present what it calls “scientific evidence” that ractopamine is harmful to the human body. But he said that the government will keep the ban in place.
This round of TIFA talks opened on Friday in Washington DC. Such trade talks were suspended for more than five years over a US beef import dispute. Talks resumed in 2013 after Taiwan lifted a ban on certain US beef products.
In this round of talks, high on Taiwan’s agenda is a bid to join the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a high-level free trade agreement involving countries along the Pacific Rim.