Taiwan has been included in a list of countries that the United States says are deliberately devaluing their currencies against the dollar.
Taiwan was placed on the list in a report released by the US Department of the Treasury on Wednesday, along with ten other economies including China, Japan, Thailand, and India. This is the fourth time that Taiwan has been on the list.
Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua said on Thursday that Taiwan’s inclusion on the list is mostly down to Taiwan’s trade surplus with the US, a surplus of US$2 billion, and the fact that the current account surplus makes up for 2% of Taiwan’s GDP.
Wang says that Taiwan’s US$2 billion trade surplus is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to increased exports of chips and telecommunications products.
Deputy Governor of Taiwan’s Central Bank Yen Tzung-ta says that Taiwan’s inclusion in the monitoring list reflects changes in the global economy. Yen said that while Taiwan’s trade surplus is a major factor, the transfer of supply chains following the US-China trade war is also a factor. Yen said the Central Bank will work hard to maintain the stability of the New Taiwan Dollar.