Taiwan will not agree to 50-50 chip production deal with US, negotiator says

Taipei (Reuters) -taiwan said in a statement on Wednesday that the island’s top tariff negotiator returned home, and half of all the semiconductor production in the country would not accept an agreement with the US.

US Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the owner of Washington’s Taiwan at the weekend will be 50-50 divisions in the chips on the island.

Ceng Li-Chiun, Vice President of Taiwan, who led the tariff talks with Washington, said that when they returned to the island to journalists, he did not discuss the 50-50 ideas proposed by the US during the talks.

According to Taiwan’s Official Central News Agency, “Our negotiation team never committed to a division of 50-50 in the chips. Listened, we have not discussed this issue in these talks or we will not accept such conditions.” He said.

Neither the US Trade Department nor the United States Trade Representative Office did not respond to the requests for comments sent outside the US working hours.

Taiwan, the world’s largest contract, hosts TSMC, the chipset, is carrying out a major trade surplus with the USA. The island’s exports to the United States are currently subject to a 20% tariff.

TSMC increases on a strong demand artificial intelligence Applications invest $ 165 billion to build chip factories in the US state, but most of its production will remain in Taiwan.

Last month, the Taiwan government said that after the negotiations, “certain progress”, he hoped a more appropriate tariff rate than the United States.

Speaking in Parliament in Taipei on Tuesday, Premier Cho Jung-Tai said Cheng had more than one interviews on tariff problems with the United States.

“The most critical consultations are currently going on now,” he said.

Central News Agency, speaking at the airport Cheng, “certain progress” providing “detailed” discussions were made, he said.

(Reporting by Shri Navaratnam by Ben Blancharding)