Taiwan's Cabinet has called U.S. President Donald Trump's new 32% "discounted" reciprocal tariff on Taiwanese goods to the U.S. "strongly unreasonable and highly regrettable." The policy is part of a long-threatened slew of tariffs, which Trump has slapped on over 180 countries including some of its biggest trading partners.
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00:00U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on over 180 countries and territories.
00:06The long-expected announcement comes on what he's called Liberation Day, with Trump saying
00:10he's freeing the U.S. from unfair trade practices.
00:15Joyce Tseung has been following the story and joins us from our newsroom.
00:19Joyce, a big day for the global economy.
00:22What more can you tell us about these tariffs?
00:27Right, it's happened.
00:29We're finally seeing the scope and size of these highly anticipated tariffs.
00:34And Trump has stayed true to his word.
00:36This is his biggest trade move yet.
00:39But also, these are the highest tariff rates we're seeing from the U.S. since around 1910.
00:45Trump has declared a national economic emergency against what he says is other countries taking
00:50advantage of the U.S.
00:53He's imposed a baseline 10 percent tariff on all goods from any country going into the
00:59United States.
01:00But also, he's imposed an extra higher rate, customized tariff rates on certain countries
01:07he's deemed as the worst offenders.
01:10And on that list is Taiwan.
01:13We didn't want to bring, it's very windy out here, we didn't want to bring out the big
01:16charts because of that.
01:17Following through on his campaign pledge to revive American industry, U.S. President Donald
01:22Trump has unveiled sweeping global tariffs, with a chart listing out some of the country's
01:28biggest trading partners, levied individually with rates ranging from 10 percent to 50 percent.
01:35On the left, what the Trump administration has calculated as the trade barriers countries
01:40have against the United States.
01:43The right, what Washington is imposing in retaliation.
01:46What we do is we cut it in half, we charge them.
01:49My answer is very simple if they complain.
01:51If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America
01:56because there is no tariff if you build your plant, your product in America.
02:01Markets in Asia tumbled in the wake of the announcement, and China's yuan falling to
02:06its lowest levels in seven weeks.
02:09China was at the top of Trump's list, with a new 34 percent tariff on its goods going
02:15to the U.S.
02:16That's on top of the 20 percent tariff on Chinese shipments Trump already has in place.
02:22Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, all also on the board.
02:27Taiwan, where they make, they took all of our computer chips and semiconductors.
02:33Though repeating his accusation of Taiwan stealing U.S. chip business, Trump praised
02:38Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC's recent multi-billion dollar investment to the U.S.
02:45Despite that, he says Taipei has trade barriers up, amounting to 64 percent.
02:51So he's slapping on half of that as new taxes on all Taiwanese goods to the United States.
02:58What really surprised me is that, how did it come up with just slashing it into half?
03:05You know, like if you charge me 64 percent and then I will charge you 32 percent.
03:11And actually in Trump's term, he calls it discounted reciprocal tariff.
03:18This has never been heard in trade economy.
03:22It's more or less a political stunt in some sense.
03:26Economists around the world have warned the move could fundamentally change the global
03:30economy, and not for the better.
03:34Prices will likely go up for everyone, including American consumers.
03:39In Japan, where its products now face a 24 percent U.S. tariff, Tokyo's still looking
03:44to get an exemption.
03:57In Taiwan, where markets are closed for a national holiday, some people concerned about
04:02its impact.
04:09Because if you raise the tariffs so much, the local importers will transfer the price
04:16to the local consumers, which will cause global economic instability.
04:23What the Americans did is affect the whole world, not only Taiwan.
04:29Markets had already been reeling from this slew of tariffs Trump imposed earlier.
04:34That prompted targeted countries to say they will retaliate.
04:39Trump has remained adamant that U.S. prosperity needs such extreme measures.
04:46As putting pen to paper, he erects historic barriers around the world's largest consumer
04:52economy.
04:53Again, Taiwan's markets are closed as it's a national holiday for the tomb sweeping festival.
05:00The cabinet has come out with this statement, protesting Trump's policy.
05:05They say that the 32 percent tariff on Taiwan is quote, strongly unreasonable and highly
05:10regrettable, and that they will be having serious negotiations with Washington.
05:16Taiwan does run a large trade surplus with the U.S., almost 74 billion U.S. dollars,
05:22selling more goods to the U.S. than it buys, and that's really put Taiwan in the line of
05:28fire for Trump.
05:30As for negotiations and what Taiwan can do, it's really in this difficult position because
05:35Taipei, of course, relies heavily on Washington, not just as a trading partner, but for national
05:41security purposes, and so it will want to stay on Trump's good side.
05:46Rhys.
05:47Thanks for those updates, Joyce.
05:49That was Joyce Zeng, live from our newsroom.