TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—The US trade representative released a report detailing foreign trade barriers among 59 trading partners, identifying Taiwan for prohibitive trade practices regarding the import of beef, pork, and automobiles.
The report was issued two days before US President Trump pledged wide-sweeping tariffs to correct trade imbalances. The 397-page USTR report had six pages dedicated to Taiwan, with many expecting the report will be used to guide Trump’s new tariffs.
Regarding US beef, the report said Taiwan had yet to address long-standing barriers to US beef products. Taiwan banned US beef due to concerns over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in 2003, lifting the ban on most beef products in 2009, but continuing to ban certain products such as ground beef over BSE concerns.
The US alleges that Taiwan continues to impose cumbersome and unscientific port quarantine procedures on certain US offal products. For example, Taiwan continues to restrict the importation of bovine blood products for animal consumption and bulk shipments of tallow from the US, citing BSE concerns.
As for pork, the US is concerned about Taiwan’s ractopamine residue detection method and is concerned that Taiwan’s detection method is inconsistent with methods approved by the World Health Organization. The report claims Taiwan's country of origin labeling requirements falsely imply US pork products have food safety issues.
In the automobile sector, the report said Taiwan limits US imports as it primarily adopts European safety standards and disregards US safety certifications.
Taiwan adopted the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 1958 automobile standards agreement when it became a WTO member in January 2002. In April 2008, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications introduced a regulation allowing the import of a limited number of US vehicles that are not UNECE compliant but comply with US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
In 2023, only 75 units per car model were permitted into Taiwan. The report said this cap on vehicle models primarily targeted to the US domestic market has limited the ability of US automakers to distribute vehicles not intended for the mass market.
The report noted that Taiwan prohibits the use of biotech food ingredients and processed foods containing biotech food ingredients in school meals, and the United States continues to express concerns about the scientific basis of this ban.
According to the report, Taiwan has not done enough to crack down on “copyright infringement and piracy, extending into areas such as unauthorized use of textbooks and copyrighted teaching materials, particularly via on-campus digital platforms.”
The report noted the legislature did approve amendments to the National Security Act to establish misappropriation of trade secrets involving the national core key technologies as a violation of national security laws, with both criminal and administrative penalties.
Regarding foreign investment, the report said, “No foreign investment is allowed in the manufacturing of chemical materials and metals, television and radio programming services, electricity transmission and distribution, and postal activities,” with foreign ownership in the telecommunications sector limited to 49% direct ownership.
