Taipei will help Taiwanese firms relocate their China-based production plants if President-elect Donald Trump carries out his threat to impose a 60 percent tariff on Chinese-made goods, the island’s economic ministry said Thursday. Trump’s victory in the US presidential election has left world leaders, business owners and stock markets grappling with the potential impact of his return to the White House. During the election campaign, Trump vowed to get tougher on China, promising to slap 60 percent tariffs on all Chinese goods entering the United States.
“We will come up with some assistance very soon to our Taiwanese business people on how to transfer their production bases so they would not be subjected to a 60 percent tariff,” Taiwan Economic Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told a parliamentary committee. Kuo did not provide further details on the measures. Many Taiwanese companies have set up factories in China during the country’s economic opening over the last four decades, but investment has fallen sharply in recent years owing to regional tech disputes.
Between 2019 and 2021, as a trade war raged between Beijing and Washington, Taipei offered Taiwanese businesses in China incentives to return to the island. They included two years free rent in the economic ministry’s industrial zones, labour subsidies and cheaper loans. Trump has described “tariff” as the most beautiful word in the dictionary and his second presidential term promises sweeping measures on all $3 .
