The American withdrawal from the nascent Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade block almost immediately after President Trump assumed office early this year left Taiwan without a concrete, compelling objective to work toward in its economic relationship with the United States. Until then, Taiwan had a clear focus – its hope that it would be able to…
The Executive Yuan has made known its intention to re-revise the Labor Standards Law after amendments passed last year left both employers and employees dissatisfied with the rigidities it imposed on working hours, overtime pay, and other working conditions. A new draft is expected to be submitted to the Legislative Yuan in November. AmCham Taipei…
Each year in recent years, the “Messages to Washington” section of AmCham Taipei’s annual Taiwan White Paper has strongly argued in favor of more frequent high-level visits to Taiwan by U.S. government officials. As stated in the 2017 White Paper, “it has been the Chamber’s experience that periodic visits by high-level officials can make a…
Each spring when The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham Taipei) publishes the latest edition of its Taiwan White Paper, it reviews the issues raised by its various committees in the previous year’s edition. The committees assign each issue a number representing the degree of progress over the past year. A (1) is the…
Among the flurry of executive orders signed by U.S. President Donald Trump since taking office was one issued March 31 aimed at reducing the American trade deficit with countries with which the United States runs a significant trade imbalance. The order assigns the Secretary of Commerce and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) –…
Like most people who have had the opportunity to live and work in Taiwan, members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei deeply appreciate the many virtues of this society. The Chamber’s recently conducted 2017 Business Climate Survey, the main results of which are reported in this issue, underscored this wide recognition of the…
Last October in this space, in an editorial entitled “A Significant Initiative,” AmCham Taipei hailed the Taiwan government’s decision to extend the notice-and-comment period for proposed new or revised regulations. Previously a mere 14 days, hardly enough time for stakeholders to absorb the content of the proposed new measures and to formulate a comprehensive response,…
Watching from the sidelines, Taiwan had cheered the efforts of the 12 countries negotiating to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in hope that this economy would be able to enter the multilateral trade agreement in a second round. Now, with the declaration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that he will announce the United States’ withdrawal…
To many people, the above abbreviations may simply look like alphabet soup, but the relationships they stand for can be expected to play a crucial role in shaping Taiwan’s economic future. The TPP, or Trans-Pacific Partnership, represents a potential opportunity for Taiwan to break out of its near isolation in terms of participation in free…
In an executive order likely to have far-reaching implications in improving the transparency and effectiveness of Taiwan’s regulatory process, the Executive Yuan in early September issued a directive extending the notice and comment period for proposed regulations from the current 14 days to 60 days. The new system took effect from the beginning of this…
