U.S. Chamber Calls for Expanding Trade with Taiwan

In Address Before AmCham-Taipei, Donohue Calls for Strengthening Bilateral Trade & Expanding American Business in Asia-Pacific

TAIPEI, TAIWAN—After a week spent at the APEC Summit urging world leaders to expand trade between the United States and the Asia-Pacific region, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue arrived in Taiwan today to promote this lynchpin to global economic growth and job creation before the AmCham-Taipei.

"I'm traveling halfway around the world to promote trade because this is where half of the world's economy now operates," Donohue said in a speech today. "To successfully compete in Asia, the United States needs to show new leadership on trade. Expanding ties with Taiwan has long been and must continue to be a critical component of our work in the region."

With more than $16 billion in cumulative investment, America remains the largest foreign investor in Taiwan.

"In recent years, Taiwan has made some important progress in creating a stronger environment for businessby improving intellectual property protection and acceding to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement," Donohue said. "But obstacles remain to even closer economic and commercial ties between the two economies," he said. "Progress is needed in the areas of regulatory transparency and the growing penchant of regulators to invent unique-to-Taiwan solutions that make it harder for companies to do business on the island."

The U.S. Chamber views the negotiations on a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with Taiwan as the foundation for expanding commercial ties.

"Full implementation of the protocol that would reopen Taiwan's market to U.S. beef would be a significant step forward," Donohue said. "This would advance the goal of deepening the robust commercial relationship that has long been critical to both economies."

Full text of the speech is available here.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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