The value of fishery products imported to Taiwan from the United States amounted to $57.5 million in 2018, including Alaska’s $24 million. However, despite gaining market share, the United States is not a significant supplier of seafood to Taiwan, lagging behind China, Norway, Japan and other Southeast Asia countries due to their geographic proximity and cost advantage. A long-overdue bilateral trade agreement between Taiwan and the U.S. is exactly the solution to increasing exporting for the Alaska people and helping Taiwan to reduce its isolation and economic reliance upon China.
Taiwan has been playing the role of critical market of the U.S. goods. Taiwan is the seventh-largest agricultural market for the U.S.; the average U.S. agricultural export value to Taiwan between 2016 and 2019 amounted to $3.57 billion per year. Furthermore, in the first half of 2020, Taiwan surpassed France and India in total trade volume with the U.S. as the states' ninth-largest trading partner and 11th-largest export market.
Should a bilateral trade agreement take effect, the U.S. would see more than 100% growth in its rice, fish and other food exports to Taiwan, as well as an increase in auto exports. Taiwan is ready to move quickly to engage a rule-based agreement that matches the provisions of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the U.S.-Japan trade agreement, aiming to gather pace and fuel economic recovery of both in the aftermath of COVID-19.
— Daniel Chen
Director General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office
Seattle, Washington
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