- Negotiations
Taiwan actively seeks bilateral free trade agreements, though it is hampered in this effort by its status vis-a-vis China. It has FTAs already with Panama (2003), Guatemala (2005), Nicaragua (2006), El Salvador (2007) and Honduras (2007). It is negotiating with Dominican Republic and Paraguay. And it hopes to negotiate further deals with Costa Rica, Israel, Swaziland, Japan, the US of course, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Mexico. Taipei’s emphasis on Central American countries as FTA partners is to gain access to the US market under NAFTA and CAFTA. But now Taiwan is in talks with China for a possible FTA following the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between the two governments in 2010.
last update: May 2012
Photo: simonwai/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
6-May-2007
Taipei will sign free trade agreements (FTA) with El Salvador and Honduras tomorrow, making it the first multilateral FTA between Taiwan and its trade partners.
4-May-2007
Taiwan’s economics minister will fly to El Salvador Saturday to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with El Salvador and Honduras, making them the fifth and sixth countries to sign an FTA with Taipei, the Economics Ministry said on Friday.
22-Apr-2007
Taipei Times
The South Korean-US FTA will have the greatest impact on Taiwan of all the agreements signed in the world thus far. Current estimates predict Taiwan will suffer trade losses to the tune of US$2 billion — about 5 percent of Taiwan’s total exports.
21-Apr-2007
Taipei Times
The EU’s de facto ambassador to Taiwan told the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei that it would be some time before the EU was able to evaluate the feasibility of a FTA with Taiwan. The prerequisites would be whether European companies see any need for or benefits from such a deal and whether the Taiwanese government is interested in signing a pact.
9-Apr-2007
It would be difficult to overstate the likely impact on Taiwan of last week’s free-trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the US, because South Korea and Taiwan produce many similar products and are rivals in key industrial sectors.
16-Dec-2006
UNPO
Nicaragua’s Congress has ratified a free trade agreement with Taiwan, the legislative body said in a statement Thursday.
28-Nov-2006
CNA
Taiwan has completed free trade agreement (FTA) consultations on all issues, including country of origin and market access issues, with El Salvador and Honduras.
23-Oct-2006
Dominican Today
Once decided, the treaty would offer greater opportunities to both nations to accede the United States markets.
19-Oct-2006
Taipei Times
Failure to agree on sugar quotas yesterday prompted Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to delay the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with El Salvador, saying that the two countries must first iron out their differences.
19-Sep-2006
After the negotiations for the "Doha Round" of world trade talks collapsed at the end of July, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorin said that international trade would revert to the law of the jungle, with the strong lording it over the weak.