Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua says that Taiwan’s industrial sector will suffer if South Korea joins the CPTPP trade pact and Taiwan is unable to do so. Wang was speaking Wednesday before the legislature’s economics committee.
Taiwan applied to join the CPTPP in September, but there are fears that China could get in first and block Taiwan’s bid. Further complicating matters is the fact that one of Taiwan’s main competitors in the industrial sector, South Korea, has just announced its own application to join the trade pact.
Wang said that if South Korea’s bid succeeds and Taiwan’s fails, Taiwanese manufacturers will face high tariffs in CPTPP members that their South Korean competitors will be exempt from. She said that Taiwan’s machinery, machine tool, steel, petrochemical, textile, rubber, and bicycle-making sectors all stand to face serious losses.
Wang also said that a referendum scheduled for Saturday could hurt Taiwan’s chances of acceptance into the CPTPP if it passes. On Saturday, voters will be asked whether Taiwan should reinstate a ban on importing pork containing the leanness-enhancing additive ractopamine, mainly from the US. Wang said that South Korea has allowed the import of US pork since 2012, and that reinstating the ban would reflect poorly on Taiwan as a trade partner.