Taiwan and the United States kicked off the 9th round of trade talks under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in Taipei Thursday.
The meeting was led by Deputy Economics Minister Cho Shih-chao and Deputy US Trade Representative Robert Holleyman.
During the talks, the two sides will exchange views on major trade issues. These include topics relating to agriculture, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, intellectual property rights, and regional and multilateral trade.
Economics Minister John Deng says that he hopes the meeting will include discussion of Taiwan’s bid to join the Trans Pacific Partnership.
Deng said that though the US is likely to bring the issue up, this round of talks will not address restrictions on the import of US pork into Taiwan.
The TIFA was signed in 1994 as a framework for Taiwan and the US to hold dialogue on trade-related issues. The last TIFA talks were held in April 2014 in Washington.