TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — One of Taiwan’s top trade officials sees Mexico and the U.S. states of Arizona and Texas as a new global manufacturing center, reports said Friday (June 23).
Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) Chair James Huang (黃志芳) made the statement during a visit to Arizona, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is building a factory. He described the area as a suitable gateway to the signatories of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), per CNA.
Supply chains from Taiwan and other enterprises are likely to move into Arizona to follow TSMC, he told officials, including Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. He said he had noticed that even Taiwan bubble tea chains had followed the world’s largest semiconductor maker into the state.
Gallego said she would take a business delegation to Taiwan on July 9. The visit would feature a focus on climate change and clean energy, she said.
Huang said he had invited Hobbs to attend the U.S. Business Day on Sept. 19, while in Mexico, he saw the country’s potential to become the largest manufacturing base for the North American market, the Liberty Times reported.
Taiwan companies planning to enter the regional market needed to consider a presence in Mexico, Huang said. During his three-day visit, Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro Sanchez accompanied his delegation from the electronics sector to tour an industrial zone in Puebla.