Taiwan Ready To Negotiate 'Any Time' as Trump Pauses Tariffs for 90 Days

TaiwanPlus News

U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a 90-day pause on the higher tariffs imposed on roughly 60 countries. At the same time, Trump has increased his levy on Chinese goods to 125%. Taiwan has confirmed that it is among those to get the 90-day reprieve. The foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung, says Taipei is prepared to negotiate with Washington at any time.

Transcript

00:00In a major turnaround, U.S. President Donald Trump has put a 90-day pause on his so-called

00:06reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries.

00:09The tariffs announced a week ago were to, quote, liberate the U.S. from what Trump says

00:13is other countries taking advantage of them.

00:16The pause excludes China, which now faces an increased 125 percent levy from the U.S.

00:23Let's get more from Joyce Zeng, who has been following developments for us from our newsroom

00:27in Taipei.

00:28Joyce, why is Trump issuing this pause now, and is Taiwan included?

00:34Right, it's a significant shift in Trump's policy.

00:40Look, earlier this week, there were rumors that the U.S. would pause the tariffs that caused

00:45U.S. markets to briefly bounce back.

00:48But that rumor was quickly shut down by the White House and markets sunk back down.

00:53But now we're hearing it from Trump himself.

00:55He's paused a slew of higher tariffs on roughly 60 countries, which includes Taiwan, lowering

01:01them to 10 percent for 90 days.

01:04Now, this morning, Taiwanese officials have said that this gives them some breathing room

01:09to negotiate.

01:10A sharp turn after days of market turmoil.

01:15U.S. President Donald Trump pauses the sweeping so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries,

01:22levies that sent stocks across the world tumbling.

01:25Trump saying he wrote up the new policy after thinking about it over the last few days.

01:30We wrote it up from our hearts, right?

01:32We don't want to hurt countries that don't need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.

01:38The only problem is, you know, you can only do so many at one time.

01:40Earlier this week, the White House said around 70 countries had already reached out to strike a deal.

01:46Taiwan, which has been bracing for a 32 percent tariff on most of its goods going to the U.S.,

01:53had offered to start negotiations on the basis of zero tariffs.

01:57President Lai Qingde already ruling out retaliatory tariffs.

02:02Speaking to lawmakers, Foreign Minister Lin Jialong confirmed that Taiwan is among those to get the 90-day reprieve.

02:18Lin says Taiwan is prepared to negotiate with the added time

02:22and address Taiwan's large trade surplus with the U.S., a trade imbalance Trump has criticized.

02:32Lin says Taiwan's large trade surplus with the U.S., a trade surplus with the U.S., a trade-off,

02:38a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off.

02:44As for support for local small and medium-sized firms,

02:48Economy Minister J.W. Guo says the Cabinet's proposed 2.7 billion U.S. dollar aid package will not change

02:56and will go through as planned in the coming days.

03:00Despite changes to U.S. policy, Taiwan says its priority to safeguard the economy and the country's

03:10interests remains the same, and that it's ready to negotiate with Washington at any time.

03:17Trade negotiator Yan Huixing says Taiwan is using multiple channels to try and get these talks set up.

03:24She says that Taiwan has reached out to the U.S. Treasury, the Commerce Department, and trade agency.

03:30She says Taiwan is on the list for talks, but as to when that will be or whether other countries will

03:36have priority over Taiwan, officials today still say that they'll have to wait and see,

03:41but that they're proactively approaching their U.S. counterparts.

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