The US-China trade war has cast clouds over global trade, and Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) will take it seriously and adopt necessary countermeasures, according to JN Yang, director general of the BOFT.
Yang said at an annual conference that Taiwan's trade surplus decreased by US$8.59 billion on year in 2018 due mainly to the impact from the US-China trade war that kicked off in the second half of the year.
Trade tensions between the world's two leading economies are likely to escalate after the US Justice Department filed an indictment against China's Huawei, two affiliates and its chief financial officer Meng Wangzhou, detailing allegations of bank and wire fraud. The company is also charged with violating US sanctions on Iran.
Yang declined to comment on the indictment, but said that it is difficult to predict when Taiwan's export trade will pick up and when the worst situation will come.
Yang said that her bureau will keep implementing the government's New Southbound Policy, and promote industrial investment and cooperation with the EU and the US.
Article translated by Willis Ke
