President Ma Ying-jeou says he hopes that the United States will support Taiwan’s bid to join the next round of negotiations for the regional trade bloc Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). He was speaking on Friday while receiving a delegation from the national committee of the US Republican Party.
Ma said that trade ties between Taiwan and the United States have grown closer in recent years. Taiwan is the United States’ tenth largest trading partner, while the US is Taiwan’s second largest trading partner. Ma said that the recent resumption of trade talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) had also enhanced trade ties.
Ma said Friday that he hoped the US would support Taiwan’s bid to join the second round of TPP talks.
“In the past, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Daniel Russel, has said that the United States will seriously consider having Taiwan become a TPP candidate," said Ma.
"The TPP is very important to us," he said. "It accounts for 35% of our trade volume. So we hope that all of you will continue to support our participation in the second round of multilateral trade negotiations.”
Ma said the reason that Taiwan and the United States are able to maintain good relations is because of the warmer ties in Taiwan’s relations with China. However, he said there are still differing views about certain issues in cross-strait relations.