TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Institute of Economic Research said Wednesday that Taiwan’s manufacturing confidence rose for a seventh month in January, citing easing tariff risks.
TIER said its January manufacturing business climate gauge increased 1.27 points from a month earlier to 98.44, per CNA. The services sector gauge rose for a fourth month to 95.47, while the construction gauge slipped to 99.92, per Liberty Times.
The institute explained that Taiwan-US trade talks and a pickup in the global economy supported manufacturing sentiment. However, fresh uncertainty emerged after the US Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs.
TIER Macroeconomic Forecasting Center Director Sun Ming-te (孫明德) said tariffs had been the most powerful tool because of their broad scope and high rates. Their removal leaves only more limited measures, which he described as less forceful.
US President Donald Trump has since invoked Section 122 to impose a 15% global tariff on top of most-favored-nation rates. Sun said the measure is capped at 15% and limited to five months, making it less impactful than reciprocal tariffs. Other tools, such as Sections 232 and 301, require investigations and cannot be implemented immediately.
Sun explained that Taiwan’s industries are concentrated in chips and ICT products, which are most vulnerable to targeted tariffs. While uncertainties remain, he said the government has secured some negotiation results and pressure is more likely to ease than intensify.
He added that the AI boom continues to expand from chips and servers to peripheral components, while traditional industries are recovering. A strong stock market could also support consumption, and this year’s economic growth outlook has been revised upward.
On the housing market, TIER Taiwan Industry Economics Database Director Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真) said selective credit controls and cautious bank lending have kept the property market in a low-level consolidation phase, decoupled from broader economic and stock market gains.
