Lawmakers pressure US trade representative to strike a formal trade deal with Taiwan

Name: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visits military base following ‘provocations’ from mainland China
Uploaded: 2020-10-01T20:22:27.000Z
Duration: 56 s
Description: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visits military base following ‘provocations’ from mainland China

In a letter signed by 50 senators, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was urged to start negotiating with Taipei to reduce US ‘reliance’ on China

A comprehensive trade deal, the senators wrote, would ‘serve as a signal to other nations that Taiwan is a viable partner that is open for business’

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington in June. Photo: AFP

Jacob Fromer

Published: 4:22am, 2 Oct 2020Updated: 12:00am, 3 Oct 2020

President Trump’s top trade negotiator came under new pressure from Congress on Thursday to strike a formal trade deal with Taiwan amid rapidly worsening tensions with mainland China.

In a bipartisan letter signed by 50 senators, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was urged to start negotiating with Taipei in order to reduce US “reliance” on China, diversify the country’s supply chains and protect American national security.

A comprehensive trade deal, the senators wrote, would “serve as a signal to other nations that Taiwan is a viable partner that is open for business”.

The letter was the latest sign of a growing consensus between the two parties that Washington needs to do more to stand up to Beijing – a feeling that only seems to have intensified during the coronavirus pandemic.

00:56

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visits military base following ‘provocations’ from mainland China

Many members of Congress also say the US should move closer to the democratic government in Taipei at the same time.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has not ruled out the use of force to take it under its control. The US sells weaponry to Taiwan, but its policy on whether it would defend the island from a Chinese attack has been described as “strategic ambiguity”.