The Taiwan Institute for Economic Research says some of Taiwan's major industries are seeing lower confidence in projections due to potential U.S. tariffs. However, exports and imports were still going strong in April. Economists attribute that to demand for electronics components and ICT products for the AI industry.
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00:00Taiwan's overall trade is still going strong, with both imports and exports seeing a bump in April,
00:06according to one of the country's leading economic think tanks.
00:09Now that's despite a gloomy outlook from some of Taiwan's major industries.
00:13Our reporter Tiffany Wong has been following developments from our newsroom here in Taipei, and she joins us now.
00:19Tiffany, what do the economists have to say?
00:24Hi, Eric.
00:25Well, economists at the Taiwan Institute for Economic Research say that this is just the latest reaction to those tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump at the beginning of April,
00:35and that's caused economic uncertainty worldwide.
00:38But in Taiwan, according to TIER's April data, it looks like export orders have not really been affected.
00:44And they say that's still due to the AI frenzy, causing high demand for electronics components, as well as information and communications technology.
00:55Take a listen.
00:56Thank you very much.
01:26Now, that export performance may not really be reflective of the full sentiment of Taiwan's business community.
01:34And TIER's soloed out the manufacturing, service, and construction industries as sectors that have all signaled a drop in their economic outlook in the future.
01:45Now, as export orders in the first half of the year still are being filled right now, it could look like business as usual.
01:52But again, those are usually placed many months ahead.
01:56So we really want to look out for the second half of the year, especially now as Taiwan's currency has appreciated and there still could be economic uncertainty.
02:06We'll really want to look out if there's any effect in the orders that could hurt any profits in the second half of the year.
02:13And as you say, looking forward, are we expecting any turnaround if Taiwan is able to negotiate some lower tariffs with Trump?
02:22Well, there are some developments that could change Taiwan's economic outlook.
02:30At Computex last week, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang announced an expansion in Taiwan, establishing a new Taipei headquarters at the Beitou Shilin Science Park.
02:40In addition, Taiwan's government has announced new initiatives to attract foreign talent to Taiwan, as well as trying to target Taiwanese workers who are overseas right now, trying to bring them back to Taiwan.
02:53As TIER mentioned, China and Trump have reached a deal to lower their over 100 percent reciprocal tariffs.
03:00So that could lower supply chain costs.
03:03And of course, Taiwan is hoping to strike their own deal with Trump soon.
03:07But what exactly that deal will look like remains uncertain.
03:10And that's causing businesses to have a more cautious outlook towards the future.
03:16Thanks, Tiffany.
03:17Now it's Tiffany Wong reporting live in Taipei.