us � taiwan fta study

on january 17, 2002, the us senate finance committee requested that the united states international trade commission (usitc) institute an investigation (no. 332-438) to assess the likely impact of a free trade agreement between the united states and taiwan. the usitc will submit its report to the finance committee by october 17, 2002.

total bilateral us-taiwan trade in 2002 will exceed us$50 billion. us firms have invested billions in taiwan, and more investment is expected in the near future. the us actually exports more goods to taiwan than it does to mainland china, france or brazil.

as the finance committee pointed out in its letter to the usitc, many countries are now positioning themselves through the negotiation of bilateral and regional trade agreements. in its letter to the commission, the committee noted that other major trading nations are moving to conclude preferential trade arrangements that favor their own industries. of particular concern to the us is the potential for a china � asean agreement to be realised. though the us is negotiating an agreement with singapore, clearly a more robust regional approach will be needed in asia. the committee also stated that the recent accession of taiwan to the wto will strengthen its role in the multilateral trading system, and that taiwan has one of the most rapidly developing economies in the asia pacific region.

in its report the commission will provide to the extent possible:

• a general overview of the taiwan economy;
• an overview of the current economic relationship between the united states and taiwan, including a discussion of the important industry sectors in each;
• an inventory and analysis of the barriers (tariff and nontariff) to trade between the united states and taiwan;
• a dynamic, as well as a static, analysis of the economic effects of eliminating all quantifiable trade barriers (tariff and nontariff), with special attention to agricultural goods, on: the volume of trade in goods and services between taiwan and the united states; sectoral output and gross domestic product for taiwan and the united states; wages and employment across industry sectors for each;
and
• final prices paid by consumers in taiwan and the united states.

also to be included is a qualitative assessment of the effects of removing nonquantifiable trade barriers.

us federal register notices for february 11, 2002 reference the study, and indicate a public hearing will be held at the usitc building, 500 e street sw., washington d.c., beginning at 9:30 a.m. on may 13, 2002. all persons shall have the right to appear, by counsel or in person, to present information and to be heard. requests to appear at the public hearing should be filed with the secretary, united states international trade commission, 500 e street sw., washington dc 20436, no later than 5:15 p.m., april 30, 2002.

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