TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) President Lin Hsien-ming (連賢明) on Thursday criticized the US for its method of calculating new tariffs placed on Taiwan.
Former US President Donald Trump announced a 32% tariff on Taiwanese goods on Wednesday, part of a broader effort to reduce trade deficits with key partners.
Lin described the US approach as “simple and crude” in a Facebook post. He said CIER had initially assumed that, in order to meet the April 2 deadline, the US would adopt a uniform rate instead of country-specific tariffs based on recent statements by the US Treasury secretary. However, Lin admitted the institute was mistaken, saying the US "has its unique way of calculating reciprocal tariffs."
He said the US formula appears to be based on Taiwan’s annual trade surplus divided by total US imports from Taiwan. Based on 2024 figures:
US$73.9 billion ÷ US$116.2 billion = 64%
Lin noted that if 2023 data had been used, the result would have been lower:
US$47.8 billion ÷ US$87.7 billion = 58%
That would have resulted in a 29% tariff, he said, suggesting the US selected 2024 data to justify the steeper rate.
Cabinet spokesperson Lee Hui-chih (李慧芝) said the tariffs are unfair, arguing they do not reflect the complementary nature of Taiwan-US trade or the close economic relationship between the two countries.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) has instructed the Office of Trade Negotiations to evaluate the impact and seek an official explanation from the US Trade Representative.
Taiwan was the US’ seventh-largest trade partner last year, with exports consisting mainly of steel products, automated data processing equipment, and computer components.
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.
