US industry officials have called for both the United States and Taiwan to join an important international trade agreement. That’s the word from Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua. She was speaking after meeting with US government officials and trade representatives as part of a forum on supply chain cooperation.
Wang says that US businesses called for both countries to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The free-trade area is the successor to the TPP. That agreement failed when Donald Trump withdrew the US signature in 2017.
Wang says US industry officials are also calling for the US to sign a free trade agreement with Taiwan to enable full economic cooperation. She says that’s because of Taiwan’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor industry.
The meeting came as part of the newly-established U.S.-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership dialogue. More than one hundred people were present at the roundtable discussion, including high-level US government officials, and trade representatives from both countries’ biggest corporations.