Taiwan and UK agree to deepen trade partnership
Minister without portfolio and Office of Trade Negotiations Chief Negotiator John Deng and UK Deputy Minister of Commerce and Trade Nigel Huddleston held a video conference on July 26th to exchange views on how Taiwan and the UK can further enhance bilateral economic and trade relations, reaching a consensus during the meeting. The two parties announced the formal launch of Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) talks and selected priority areas for further consultation and negotiation.
The UK is the world’s sixth-largest economy. Since Brexit in 2020, it has actively expanded its external economic and trade relations. In addition to continuing the EU's external trade agreement network, it has also used various channels to discuss trade issues of common concern with its major trading countries, working together to harmonize each other's trade policies and rules to establish long-term trading partnerships. So far, the UK has launched consultations on deepening its trade partnerships with such nations as India and Thailand; Taiwan is the third nation to engage in ETP consultations with the UK.
Taiwan and the UK plan to start negotiations as soon as possible on three major areas, i.e. investment, energy and net-zero carbon emissions, and digital trade. In the field of investment, the two parties aim to jointly establish a fair and competitive investment environment, cooperate in the area of energy to combat climate change and promote decarbonization, and jointly improve reliable data flow and protection in the field of digital trade.
Minister Deng said, "In recent years, due to the government's efforts to promote integration with international standards, which have received a great deal of attention from the international community, as well as the key position of our country's semiconductor industry in the international supply chain having been widely recognized, our overall international economic and trade relations have greatly improved. Following Taiwan completing its first trade agreement with the United States, the United Kingdom has now taken concrete actions to further deepen our relationship with us. We are happy to see this progress and expect very fruitful results."