Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua (王美花) will lead a delegation to the United States this weekend for the first physical meeting under the Technology Trade and Investment Collaboration (TTIC) framework, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Friday.
In a statement, the MOEA said Wang was scheduled to depart for the United States Sunday and stay there until Oct. 16.
An MOEA official told CNA that Wang would talk with U.S. officials about the importance of Taiwan’s security to global industrial development at the meeting as well as discuss supply chain issues.
In late September, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes that an attack on Taiwan could devastate the global economy as the island produces most of the world’s semiconductors.
The TTIC, established in December 2021, is a bilateral cooperation framework for Taiwan and the U.S. to develop commercial programs and strengthen critical technology supply chains.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the TTIC aims to promote two-way investment, study industry trends, and explore new opportunities and investment in the U.S. market.
The official said U.S. officials were planning to explain to the Taiwan delegation the benefits of the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act to Taiwanese companies.
The CHIPS Act aims to provide subsidies to investors to ramp up semiconductor production in the U.S. market, while the Inflation Reduction Act has set sights on curbing inflation by cutting the deficit, lowering prescription drug prices, and investing in domestic energy production while promoting clean energy.
In addition to the TTIC meeting, the MOEA said Wang would open the first Taiwan Expo USA in Washington on Oct. 12.
The exhibition will focus on a wide range of industrial developments such as 5G, smart cities, smart vehicles, smart health care, tourism, culture and food to better present Taiwan to the world. The event will run through Oct. 14, the MOEA added.
The MOEA said Wang and her delegation would also visit American companies and business associations during the trip in a bid to boost exchanges and cooperation on the global supply chains.
The U.S. companies the Taiwanese delegation plans to visit include several headquartered in Silicon Valley with close business ties with Taiwan’s semiconductor suppliers.
The visits aim to encourage U.S. firms enhance the resilience and security of Taiwan’s supply chain through investment, the MOEA said.
The MOEA said the visit by the Wang-led delegation would be meaningful given the impending quarantine-free reopening of Taiwan’s borders on Oct. 13.
The MOEA added it expected the reopening to increase exchanges between Taiwan and the United States.
The visit by the delegation will also prompt Taiwan and the U.S. to work more closely to seize business opportunities on the global market, the MOEA said.
Both sides also expect to have insightful discussions on geopolitical issues, the MOEA added.
In addition to TTIC, Taiwan and the U.S. have two other high-level bilateral economic dialogue platforms — the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and the U.S.-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue (EPPD).
The two have also started the “U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade” dialogue.
According to the MOEA, bilateral trade between Taiwan and the U.S. topped US$100 billion for the first time in 2021.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel