TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Cabinet on Thursday condemned the United States’ newly announced 32% tariff on Taiwanese goods, calling the measure “highly unreasonable.”
Cabinet spokesperson Lee Hui-chih (李慧芝) said in a press release that the tariff does not accurately reflect the reality of Taiwan-US trade relations and is unfair to Taiwan, per CNA. She criticized the move on three main grounds.
First, Lee said the US provided no clear explanation of how it calculated the tariff or what scientific or economic principles were used. The measure fails to account for the complementary nature of Taiwan-US trade and the depth of their economic partnership.
Second, she noted Taiwan’s export growth and trade surplus with the US have largely been driven by strong demand for semiconductors and AI-related products. She added that during President Trump’s first term, US tariffs and tech restrictions on China pushed supply chains to shift to Taiwan, contributing to both American economic performance and national security.
Third, the US cited concerns over low-cost illegal transshipment and so-called “country of origin washing” as justification for the new tariffs. Countries with stronger trade ties to China and histories of transshipment violations received even steeper tariffs—Vietnam at 46%, Cambodia at 49%, and Thailand at 36%.
However, Lee emphasized that Taiwan has taken extensive action to prevent such violations, including a three-tier enforcement mechanism overseen by the Ministry of Finance.
She added that Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) has instructed the Office of Trade Negotiations to seek clarification from the US Trade Representative and work to protect Taiwan’s national and industrial interests.
Tariffs function as import taxes applied to goods from abroad. In this case, US companies bringing in products from Taiwan will bear the cost of the increased rate. The extent to which this may impact Taiwan’s exports to the US is still unclear.
