Taipei: Taiwan should seize a tentative trade deal with the United States that would cap tariffs at 15 percent, the chairperson of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (AmCham) said Tuesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced an increase in South Korea’s tariff rate by 10 percentage points, raising it to 25 percent.
According to Focus Taiwan, Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, attributed the tariff hike to South Korea’s legislature’s failure to enact a trade deal that he claimed to have reached with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung in late July and reaffirmed in October 2025. AmCham Chairperson Anita Chen expressed concerns, stating, “We certainly don’t want to see that happen,” during an event in Taipei. She emphasized that the trade deal between the U.S. and Taiwan represents a positive move towards long-term technology cooperation between the two nations.
The proposed 15 percent tariff rate, a reduction of five percentage points from the current rate on Taiwanese goods, is part of a broader yet-to-be-signed U.S.-Taiwan trade deal. Negotiations over tariffs and quotas are still ongoing, and the pending trade pact is anticipated to stir controversy as it aims to open Taiwan’s market to American goods, including vehicles and agricultural products.
AmCham President Carl Wegner noted that the 25 percent U.S. tariff on South Korean goods could enhance the competitiveness of Taiwanese firms. However, skepticism persists among Taiwan’s opposition parties, the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People’s Party, who hold a legislative majority and have voiced concerns about the agreement and the pending trade pact.
In January, Taiwan and the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during trade talks, wherein Taiwan’s semiconductor and technology companies committed to investing at least US$250 billion in the U.S. Chen and Wegner’s comments were made at the press event for AmCham’s 2026 Business Climate Survey, which revealed that 92 percent of AmCham member companies intend to maintain or increase investment in Taiwan, a 2 percentage point rise from 2025.
The survey also highlighted that 54 percent of respondents felt “somewhat confident” about Taiwan’s economic outlook for 2026, while 28 percent were “very confident,” marking the highest confidence level since 2022. National security and cross-strait relations remained the top concerns among respondents, though only 7 percent reported significant disruption from cross-strait tensions in 2025, with 35 percent experiencing no disruption. The survey, conducted between Nov. 18 and Dec. 21, 2025, was completed by 206 of 411 eligible AmCham members.