Taiwan signals tariff deal with US could come soon

By Ben Blanchard, Trevor Hunnicutt and Dagmarah Mackos

TAIPEI/WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Taiwan signaled on Thursday that a tariff deal with the United States could come soon, after its negotiators left for the latest round of talks with Washington, saying both sides are expected to announce where they have reached “consensus”.

Semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan has been in talks with the United States to get the tariff on its exports cut from 20% to 15%.

In a statement, the Taiwan cabinet’s working group on Taiwan-U.S. trade said that Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun and trade envoy Yang Jen-ni had departed for the United States late Wednesday for the sixth round of face-to-face consultations.

The aim is the further reduction in reciprocal tariffs, securing most-favored treatment for tariffs on chips and other products, promoting a better trade balance and forming a strategic partnership on the global AI supply chain, it said.

“After this round of consultations, both sides are expected to publicly announce the content on where they have reached consensus,” it added, without giving details.

Taiwan will then schedule a date to sign documents with the Office of the United States Trade Representative and then submit this for review in Taiwan’s parliament, the statement said.

Two people familiar with the matter said an announcement on the tariffs deal could come by the end of the month.

However, Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations spokesperson Benjamin Hsu told Reuters that as the delegation had only just left, it was hard to say when “results can be achieved”.

“As for announcing the outcomes, that still requires agreement by both sides,” he added.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the meetings in Washington. It was not immediately clear which U.S. officials would take part.

A major semiconductor producer, Taiwan has said its offer to the U.S. included help in replicating the island’s success in building tech clusters around dedicated science parks.

Under the deal, it is expected that chipmaker TSMC would commit to building more facilities in Arizona, according to one of the people.

TSMC has declined to comment on whether it would invest more in the U.S. on top of the $165 billion that it has already pledged.

Taiwan’s chips are not subject to the U.S. tariffs.

However, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed a 25% tariff on certain AI chips, such as the Nvidia H200 AI processor, under a new national security order released by the White House.

Addressing that new order, Taiwan’s statement said that it has previously held multiple discussions with the U.S. and reached consensus on preferential tariff treatment for semiconductors and related products.

“After confirming this with the U.S. side during the current consultations, our side will provide a public explanation,” it added, without elaborating.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Dagmarah Mackos and Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Jeanny Kao in Taipei; Editing by Alexander Smith, Alistair Bell and Michael Perry)