Taipei will help Taiwanese firms move their manufacturing plants out of China if President-elect Donald Trump makes good on his threat to impose 60 percent tariffs on Chinese-made goods, the island's economic ministry said.
Trump's victory in the USA presidential election has world leaders, business owners and stock markets grappling with the potential impact of his return to the White House.
During the campaign, Trump promised to get tougher on China, pledging to impose 60% tariffs on all Chinese goods entering the US.
"Very soon we will offer some help to our Taiwanese businessmen on how to transfer their production bases so that they are not subjected to the 60 percent duty," Taiwan's economy minister Kuo Zhihui told a parliamentary committee.
Kuo did not provide further details on the measures.
Many Taiwanese companies have set up factories in China during the country's economic opening-up over the past four decades, but investment has declined sharply in recent years due to regional technology disputes.
Between 2019 and 2021, when a trade war raged between Beijing and Washington, Taipei offered Taiwanese enterprises in China incentives to return to the island.
These included two years of free rent in the economic ministry's industrial zones, labour subsidies and cheaper loans.
Trump has described "tariff" as the most beautiful word in the dictionary, and his second presidential term promises sweeping measures on all $3 trillion worth of imported U.S. goods.
He promised at least a 10% duty on all imports and a higher level of 60% or more on Chinese goods.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing and Washington should find a way to "get along" in a message to Trump, state media reported.
"A stable, sound and sustainable relationship between China and the United States is in the common interest of both countries and is in line with the expectations of the international community," Xi said. | BGNES
