Taiwan’s legislators responded Thursday regarding United States President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for all countries except China, which will contend with a 125% tax rate. Lawmakers expressed concerns that this may cause Chinese products to undergo “origin washing,” or the illegal transshipment of dumped goods through third party countries.
Responding to these concerns, Economic Minister J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) proposed five preventive measures, including strengthening monitoring of Chinese goods resold to Taiwan and of Taiwanese products exported to the U.S. The government will additionally develop a strategy to combat dumping, which refers to the practice of exporting goods at prices lower than their domestic market price.
Deputy Economic Minister Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信) assured the legislature that they will conduct strict investigations. Lai said the top priority is to monitor Chinese imports and Taiwanese exports to the U.S. He explained that the Economic Ministry, Finance Ministry, and International Trade Administration track docking data, and that they keep a running list of past violators.
DPP legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) pointed out that KMT legislators had previously proposed amendments that would allow Kinmen to be turned into a free trade demonstration zone. This would potentially make it easier for China to use Kinmen for origin washing.