Talks With Taiwan Not Expected To Be A Priority For Biden Administration

One expert on Asia says the farming community should not expect the Biden Administration to focus on trade deals with individual nations early in the first term. Scott Harold with the Rand Defense Research Group, using talks with Taiwan as an example says he does not anticipate unilateral discussions to occur until late in the first term, or perhaps into the second term if the President is reelected in 2024. This despite the fact that Taiwan and expressed a desire to hold talks with the U.S. for decades. But, the island nation is less of a priority for the U.S. than the Comprehensive Trans-Pacific Partnership, or the updated TPP, which President Trump pulled the U.S. out of days into his presidency. Some expected Taiwan to be a higher priority, considering the background of new U.S. Trade Representative, Katherine Tai.

“We just got a USTR confirmed. Her family comes originally from China, but she was born in Taiwan, and, so, should have a good understanding of Taiwan’s place in the world.” 

And the importance of that alliance in pushing back against China’s coercion in the region. Still, talks with Taiwan, a significant U.S. ag trade partner, are further complicated by public opposition to U.S. pork treated with ractopamine. Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party Mission Chief Mike Fonte said he fears the impact of a Taiwan referendum.

“If that passes, it goes back to blocking any pork with ractopamine in it to Taiwan. That’s going to set back relations on the trade front, again. That sticks in the craw of U.S. trade agreement people.”

Despite the strong ties on other fronts, including a House panel advancing a bill to help Taiwan last week, a beacon in the fight against COVID, regain World Health Organization observer status blocked by China.

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