The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative expressed support of an agreement between the United States and Taiwan to strengthen and deepen trade between the two countries.
Spokesperson Sam Michel said Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi “attended the signing of the first agreement under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade,” according to a June 1 news release.
“This agreement, which was signed by representatives of the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, is intended to strengthen and deepen the economic and trade relationship between the United States and Taiwan,” Michel said in the news release. “We thank our Taiwan partners for helping us reach this important milestone and look forward to upcoming negotiations on additional trade areas set forth in the initiative’s negotiating mandate.”
The agreement includes several chapters, including “Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation,” in which border procedures will be simplified and red tape reduced for American businesses; “Good Regulatory Practices,” in which small and medium-sized businesses will get a better understanding of regulatory procedures in the U.S. and Taiwan; “Services Domestic Regulation,” that ensures fair treatment for service suppliers and prohibits gender-based licensing discrimination; and “Anticorruption,” which commits the U.S. and Taiwan to creation of anticorruption measures, the release said.
Another chapter, “Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs),” includes information encouraging SME trade and investment between the U.S. and Taiwan, the release reported. Activities include training programs, trade finance, trade education, trade missions and improving SME access to capital and credit.
“The sides would promote online, publicly available resources for SMEs to learn more about how to conduct business in both markets,” the release said. “The negotiated text encourages that the SME Dialogues include SME owned by diverse, underserved and underrepresented groups.”
The agreement can be found online.