Taiwan and the United States on Wednesday launched a joint initiative to “develop concrete ways” to boost their bilateral economic and trade relationship in the hope of eventually negotiating “high-standard” agreements.

At a press conference held in Taipei, Taiwan’s top trade negotiator John Deng (???) announced the launch of the “U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade,” shortly after completing a virtual meeting with Deputy United States Trade Representative (USTR) Sarah Bianchi.

At the same time, the USTR issued a press release saying the initiative “is intended to develop concrete ways to deepen the economic and trade relationship, advance mutual trade priorities based on shared values, and promote innovation and inclusive economic growth for our workers and businesses.”

Taiwan and the U.S. will work to “develop an ambitious roadmap for negotiations for reaching agreements with high-standard commitments and economically meaningful outcomes,” the release said.

However, these potential agreements fall short of a bilateral trade agreement or a free trade agreement, since no tariff-related issues will be discussed, said Deng, who is also a minister without portfolio, at the press conference which was also attended by Economic Minister Wang Mei-hua (???) and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (???).

Instead, the two sides will focus their negotiations on 11 areas, including trade facilitation, regulatory practices, standards, state-owned enterprises, non-market policies and practices, as well as anti-corruption, Deng said.

He added that Taiwan and the U.S. will also begin talks to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in trade, digital trade and worker-centric trade, while exploring ways to promote agriculture and climate action.

According to Deng, the first in-person meeting under the newly announced joint initiative will be held in Washington at the end of June, but the line-up is still being finalized.

Although bilateral talks under the new initiative will not be held on a regular basis in the future, both sides have agreed to “facilitate negotiations” and achieve some outcomes in the shortest time possible, he added.

In addition to the 11 topics, negotiations could be expanded to include other issues of interest to both nations in the future, Deng said.

Describing the new initiative as “a historic breakthrough” in bilateral trade ties between Taiwan and the U.S., Deng said the results of negotiations under the initiative will establish a foundation for the two sides to negotiate a free trade agreement, something Taiwan’s government has long expressed an interest in signing.

At the same time, Deng said Taiwan will continue looking for ways to take part in the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific economic initiative, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

Taiwan was excluded from the IPEF, which was launched on May 23 by U.S. President Joe Biden and currently includes 14 participating countries.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel