Tariffs and tech

And we'll begin this week's show where we've begun the show too many times, as far as I'm concerned, over the past couple of years, that being with US-imposed tariffs, as Taiwan has been listed as among 60 economies determined by the Trump administration to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods purchased with forced labor.

Now, according to a notice released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, it is proposed imposing an additional 10% tariff on Taiwan.

However, the Office of the US Trade Representative notes that Taiwan appears to be taking steps to implement its commitment to a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.

Now, the cabinet responded to the threat of tariffs, saying that the recommended rate on Taiwan will not take immediate effect and will not be stacked upon existing tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.

And according to the cabinet, the full results of the Section 301 probe, which instigated the tariffs, will be announced in late July, and it remains confident that Taiwan will receive relatively favorable treatment among countries running trade surpluses with the US, while at the same time retaining the favorable terms it's secured so far in Taiwan-US trade negotiations.

The cabinet has also said it will establish a review mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor and will use the Foreign Trade Act as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor to ensure that supply chain governance will be more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience, and sustainability.

So Michael, here we go again, tariffs.

But of course, this is a minor tariff glitch, one could argue.

One could argue that.

Uh, it, it...

I think Taiwan is not terribly worried about this because all of its competitors are also seeing the same tariff being imposed upon them.

So, so Taiwan's main concern is that it remains competitive with other industrial economies.

And since most of Taiwan's explosive growth recently is from semiconductors and things like that that are not affected by these tariffs, it probably is not going to have an enormous impact on Taiwan's overall economy.

However, these tariffs are quietly hurting Taiwan's traditional industries, you know, the small factories that make screws and textiles and all the other bazillions of things that Taiwan produces.

So it, it, it will have an effect.

It will tend to unbalance Taiwan's economy even further.

Yeah, it's going to hurt the people who's already been hurt the most and have not participated in the amazing growth that's not largely been driven by the AI sector and Taiwan's semiconductor growth.

Um, this is really tiresome because we've seen that America has been using the tariff weapon over and over again.

It's pretty much just as the whim, at the whim of Trump [laughs], like what Trump wants to do, he wants to do.

He wants to use the tariffs to create a more favorable economic environment for the United States, and, um, I find that highly ironic that not [laughs] they're, um, not only are they insulting us with these tariffs, they're also insulting us by saying, "Oh, it's because you're bad.

You use forced labor." Um, yeah, it, it is insulting, and it's also ironic that, uh, guess, guess who's, uh, able to actually talk to the Americans and, uh, get a good deal? Um, the, the Chinese have been able to do so because they actually have cards, right? They have rare earth.

And you can argue Taiwan should have cards.

Taiwan have these, uh, exclusive, uh, production of these semiconductors, but we would never use that as leverage against the United States of America.

And Angelica, obviously this, this is, um, importation of goods produced by forced labor.

But of course, there is Taiwan has been on record, US trade representatives have warned that Taiwan also has a problem with maybe not treating some of its workforce as it should.

And we'll begin this week's show where we've begun the show too many times, as far as I'm concerned, over the past couple of years, that being with US-imposed tariffs, as Taiwan has been listed as among 60 economies determined by the Trump administration to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods purchased with forced labor.

Now, according to a notice released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, it is proposed imposing an additional 10% tariff on Taiwan.

However, the Office of the US Trade Representative notes that Taiwan appears to be taking steps to implement its commitment to a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.

Now, the cabinet responded to the threat of tariffs, saying that the recommended rate on Taiwan will not take immediate effect and will not be stacked upon existing tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.

And according to the cabinet, the full results of the Section 301 probe, which instigated the tariffs, will be announced in late July, and it remains confident that Taiwan will receive relatively favorable treatment among countries running trade surpluses with the US, while at the same time retaining the favorable terms it's secured so far in Taiwan-US trade negotiations.

The cabinet has also said it will establish a review mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor and will use the Foreign Trade Act as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor to ensure that supply chain governance will be more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience, and sustainability.

So Michael, here we go again, tariffs.

But of course, this is a minor tariff glitch, one could argue.

One could argue that.

Uh, it, it...

I think Taiwan is not terribly worried about this because all of its competitors are also seeing the same tariff being imposed upon them.

So, so Taiwan's main concern is that it remains competitive with other industrial economies.

And since most of Taiwan's explosive growth recently is from semiconductors and things like that that are not affected by these tariffs, it probably is not going to have an enormous impact on Taiwan's overall economy.

However, these tariffs are quietly hurting Taiwan's traditional industries, you know, the small factories that make screws and textiles and all the other bazillions of things that Taiwan produces.

So it, it, it will have an effect.

It will tend to unbalance Taiwan's economy even further.

Yeah, it's going to hurt the people who's already been hurt the most and have not participated in the amazing growth that's not largely been driven by the AI sector and Taiwan's semiconductor growth.

Um, this is really tiresome because we've seen that America has been using the tariff weapon over and over again.

It's pretty much just as the whim, at the whim of Trump [laughs], like what Trump wants to do, he wants to do.

He wants to use the tariffs to create a more favorable economic environment for the United States, and, um, I find that highly ironic that not [laughs] they're, um, not only are they insulting us with these tariffs, they're also insulting us by saying, "Oh, it's because you're bad.

You use forced labor." Um, yeah, it, it is insulting, and it's also ironic that, uh, guess, guess who's, uh, able to actually talk to the Americans and, uh, get a good deal? Um, the, the Chinese have been able to do so because they actually have cards, right? They have rare earth.

And you can argue Taiwan should have cards.

Taiwan have these, uh, exclusive, uh, production of these semiconductors, but we would never use that as leverage against the United States of America.

And Angelica, obviously this, this is, um, importation of goods produced by forced labor.

But of course, there is Taiwan has been on record, US trade representatives have warned that Taiwan also has a problem with maybe not treating some of its workforce as it should.