TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A trade agreement between Taiwan and the U.S. could be finalized by the end of this year, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Monday (April 10).

Speaking at the Legislative Yuan, Wu said that negotiations under the Taiwan-U.S. 21st Century Trade Initiative have gone smoothly and are expected to be completed before the end of this year, CNA reported.

However, as for an agreement on avoidance of double taxation, Wu said progress depends on the U.S. and may not be ready for signing this year. He said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has raised this issue on every occasion when meeting with U.S. officials.

Such an agreement also has the support of U.S. senators and representatives, Wu added.

Taiwan Chief Trade Representative John Deng (鄧振中) echoed the same optimism in January, saying a Taiwan-U.S. trade deal may be on the horizon. He said there were only a few issues left to be settled.

Taipei and Washington have held two rounds of negotiations. The first occurred from Nov. 8-9 in New York and the second was in Taipei from Jan. 14-17.

Originally, there were 11 trade areas discussed, including trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, anti-corruption, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), agriculture, standards, digital trade, labor, environment, state-owned enterprises (SOE), and non-market policies and practices. However, after more talks, domestic regulations for the service industry were added as the 12th issue, per the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.