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Taiwan president proposes zero tariffs as basis for US

trade

talks

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President says Taiwan won't retaliate against US tariffs

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Taiwan will buy more from the US, president says

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US is Taiwan's most important international partner

By Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI, April 6 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Lai

Ching-te on Sunday offered zero tariffs as the basis for talks

with the U.S., pledging to remove trade barriers rather than

imposing reciprocal measures and saying Taiwanese companies will

raise their U.S. investments.

President Donald Trump announced across-the-board import tariffs

on Wednesday, with much higher duties for dozens of trading

partners, including Taiwan, which runs a large trade surplus

with the U.S. and faces a 32% duty on its products.

The U.S. tariffs, however, do not apply to semiconductors, a

major Taiwanese export.

In a video message released by his office after meeting

executives from small and medium-sized companies at his

residence, Lai said given Taiwan's dependence on trade the

economy would inevitably have a hard time dealing with the

tariffs, but that he thought the impact could be minimised.

"Tariff negotiations can start with 'zero tariffs' between

Taiwan and the United States, with reference to the

U.S.-Canada-Mexico free trade agreement," Lai said.

Taiwan has no plans to take tariff retaliation, and there

will be no change in Taiwanese companies' investment commitments

to the United States as long as they are in Taiwan's interest,

he added in comments provided by his office.

Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker,

last month announced an additional $100 billion investment in

the U.S.

"In the future, in addition to TSMC's increased investment,

other industries, such as electronics, information and

communications, petrochemicals, and natural gas will be able to

increase investment in the U.S. and deepen Taiwan-U.S.

industrial cooperation," Lai said.

Taiwan's cabinet is considering what large-scale

agricultural, industrial and energy purchases to make from the

United States, while the defence ministry has already put

forward its weapons purchase plans, he added.

"All purchases will be actively pursued," Lai said.

Non-tariff trade barriers are an indicator for the U.S. to

assess the fairness of trade, and Taiwan will proactively

resolve non-tariff trade barriers that have existed for many

years to make trade negotiations with the U.S. smoother, he

added.

The U.S. is Taiwan's most important international backer and

main source of arms, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.

Taiwan has faced stepped-up military and political pressure

from its giant neighbour China, which views the democratically

governed island as Chinese territory, despite the objections of

the government in Taipei.

Shortly before Trump's tariff announcement, China announced the

end of its latest round of war games around Taiwan.

Lai said that Taiwan has faced major global crises before

and came through those.

"Not only have we been able to overcome the difficulties,

but we have also been able to turn crises into opportunities,

transforming the Taiwanese economy into a new and more resilient

one," he added.