Overview

The United States-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) is the key mechanism for trade dialogue between the United States and Taiwan authorities and covers a broad range of trade and investment issues important to U.S. and Taiwan stakeholders. The TIFA Council on Trade and Investment is chaired by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Council for U.S. Affairs (TCUSA), with senior advisors from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs serving as chief negotiators. Many of the issues discussed below were raised at the most recent TIFA Council meeting in 2021 and in follow-up meetings.

In addition to TIFA, the United States and Taiwan intend to use the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade and their on-going engagement with stakeholders to advance and deepen the important U.S.-Taiwan economic and trade relationship, to promote shared values, and to address shared challenges and opportunities in the following eleven priority trade areas: trade facilitation, regulatory practices, agriculture, anti-corruption, supporting SMEs in trade, harnessing the benefits of digital trade, promoting worker-centric trade, supporting the environment and climate action, standards, state-owned enterprises, and non-market policies and practices.

Furthermore, in 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs jointly announced the U.S.-Taiwan Technology Trade and Investment Collaboration (TTIC), as part of an effort to collaborate to develop commercial programs and explore actions to strengthen critical supply chains.

Technical Barriers to Trade

A full report on the technical barriers to trade imposed by Taiwan is included within the following document: https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/files/reports/2021/2021NTE.pdf.