TAIPEI: Taiwan state-backed bodies could over the next decade buy an extra US$200 billion from the United States and bump up the percentage of LNG it gets from the country by one-third to help narrow the trade deficit, the economy minister said on Thursday (Apr 10).
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Sunday pledged to seek a zero tariff regime with the United States and buy more from and invest more in the country, and said that Taipei would not retaliate in response to US tariffs – now put on pause by President Donald Trump.
Taiwan had been due to be hit with a 32 per cent tariff, sending its stock market plummeting, though the key semiconductor industry was excluded.
Taking lawmakers’ questions in parliament about the government’s response to the tariffs, Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei said the plan being discussed was some US$200 billion in extra purchases over the coming decade by the government and state-run companies.
That does not include purchases by private companies, he added.
Asked about raising the proportion of Taiwan’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States from 10 per cent to 30 per cent of the total, Kuo said that was the “direction” being eyed.
Most of Taiwan’s LNG now comes from Australia and Qatar.
Speaking to reporters at parliament, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said there was now breathing room to have more detailed and in-depth talks with the United States.
“We hope to take advantage of the huge US market, their excellent technology capital and talent, to form a Taiwan-US coalition, a joint fleet approach,” he added.
