Taipei: Two senior officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will visit Washington and meet with U.S. President Donald Trump's team in an effort to prevent the imposition of tariffs potentially as high as 100 percent on chips from Taiwan. Economics Minister Kuo Jyh-huei disclosed the upcoming trip to the press ahead of a Taipei forum on Saturday, one day after Trump said he is going to announce the reciprocal tariffs on many additional countries next week.

According to Focus Taiwan, the two officials are Deputy Economics Minister Cynthia Kiang and Chen Pei-li, deputy director general of the ministry's Industrial Development Administration, according to MOEA officials. Kuo stated that the main goal of the visit will be to clarify to the Trump administration that Taiwan has never "stolen" U.S. chips or technology. He emphasized that Taiwan has always paid for intellectual property, referencing Taiwan's signing of an integrated circuit technology transfer and licensing contract with Radio Corporation of America in the 1970s to introduce semiconductor technology into the country.

Kuo further emphasized Taiwan's role as a crucial partner to the United States, noting that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the largest contract chip maker in the world, and U.S. companies are interdependent. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump stated his intention to impose tariffs on Taiwan to encourage chip production to move to the U.S., suggesting tariffs could range from 25 to 100 percent.

However, Hsieh Chin-ho, chairman of Wealth Magazine, voiced skepticism about the efficacy of deploying officials to the U.S. At the same event on Saturday, Hsieh expressed doubt that Trump would impose such steep tariffs on TSMC, suggesting that "the U.S.' main enemy is China." He proposed that, instead of sending government officials, TSMC should take a more central role by inviting Trump to its wafer fab in Arizona as a gesture of goodwill. Hsieh highlighted that it was the U.S. that invited TSMC to build the factory in Arizona, suggesting this could serve as a reminder to Trump of the existing bilateral cooperation.