Congress Unlikely to Overturn Tariff Decisions
U.S. midterm election results were released on 11月4日, with President Trump's Republican Party suffering a major defeat as Democrats won control of the federal House and Senate, drawing market attention to whether the signed Taiwan-U.S. tariff agreement will be affected. Economics Minister Gong Ming-hsin said on 11月5日 that the Trump administration has already set the direction of tariff policy through executive power and it is expected to continue. To overturn a presidential decision, the U.S. Congress must secure 三分之二 votes in support, and judging from the current election results, the threshold will be difficult to reach. The Taiwan government will now do its best to consolidate the agreed tariff results and maintain a relatively favorable outcome.
Texas Park and Natural Gas Projects to Continue
Regarding Taiwan's plans to invest in the U.S. to establish a Texas park and to participate in Alaska natural gas development and procurement, public attention has focused on whether progress will be affected by the election shift. Gong Ming-hsin noted that it will still depend on the final election results, but Taiwan's investment in the U.S. benefits industrial development and employment in both sides and is mutually beneficial, and he believes both Republicans and Democrats will welcome it. He said the overall broad investment direction should continue, with details to be further discussed after U.S. post-election personnel arrangements become clearer.
Bipartisan Consensus on Taiwan Trade Stance
Asked whether Democratic control of Congress would affect U.S. economic and trade stance toward Taiwan, Gong Ming-hsin said that to his understanding, Democrats and Republicans are quite consistent in their attitude toward Taiwan in the economic and trade field and are basically quite supportive. He cited the Taiwan-U.S. agreement to avoid double taxation as an example, noting the bill passed the House long ago and has not yet completed Senate procedures mainly due to scheduling issues, not disagreement between the chambers. He therefore judged that bipartisan friendliness toward Taiwan remains unchanged, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs will continue to promote mutually beneficial development of bilateral trade.
Semiconductor Supply Chain Cooperation Unchanged
In response to Trump's past claims that Taiwan took away U.S. chip business, Gong Ming-hsin stressed that the semiconductor supply chain and ecosystem jointly formed by Taiwan and the U.S. is the most efficient model, with remarkable cooperation results over the past decade contributing the most globally, and he hopes to further expand results in the future. On foreign media reports that TSMC has submitted an investment application to the Texas government, Gong Ming-hsin responded that it would be more appropriate for the individual company to explain and it was inconvenient for the Ministry to comment on its behalf.