Sec. 501. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: Taiwan has been an important trading partner of the United States for many years, accounting for $114,000,000,000 in two-way trade in 2021. Taiwan has demonstrated the capacity to hold a strong economic partnership with the United States. Along with a robust trading profile of goods and services, Taiwan supports an estimated 208,000 American jobs and its cumulative investment in the United States is at least $13,700,000,000, numbers that will only increase with a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement.
In addition to supplementing United States goods and services, Taiwan is a reliable partner in many United States industries, which is not only critical for diversifying United States supply chains, but is also essential to reducing the United States reliance on other countries, such as China, who seek to leverage supply chain inefficiencies in their path to regional and global dominance. Such diversification of United States supply chains is critical to our national security.
The challenges to establishing an agreement with Taiwan, such as reaching an agreement on agricultural standards, must not prevent the completion of a bilateral trade agreement. Taiwan has already taken steps to further the progress towards such an agreement by announcing its intent to lift restrictions on United States pork and beef products, which will greatly increase the accessibility of American farmers and ranchers to Taiwan markets. In light of this important development, the United States should immediately move forward with substantial negotiations for a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan.
A free and open Indo-Pacific is a goal that needs to be actively pursued to counter China’s use of unfair trading practices and other policies to advance its economic dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. An agreement with Taiwan would— help the United States accomplish this goal by building a network of like-minded governments dedicated to fair competition and open markets that are free from government manipulation; and encourage other nations to deepen economic ties with Taiwan.
Since November 2020, Taiwan and the United States have engaged in the U.S.-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, covering a broad range of economic issues including— 5G networks and telecommunications security; supply chains resiliency; infrastructure cooperation; renewable energy; global health; and science and technology. A trade agreement between the United States and Taiwan would promote security and economic growth for the United States, Taiwan, and the entire Indo-Pacific region.
Excluding Taiwan from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework would— create significant distortions in the regional and global economic architecture; and run counter to the United States economic interests. Taiwan is the United States largest trading partner with whom we do not have an income tax treaty or agreement. Taiwan has such agreements with 34 countries, including countries that have trade agreements with the United States and do not maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, in its 2022 Taiwan White Paper , called for the United States and Taiwan to continue exploring an income tax agreement to boost bilateral trade and investment by reducing double taxation and increasing economic efficiency and integration.