Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/16/2020
By: Liao Yu-yang and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Jan. 16 (CNA) The first phase of a trade agreement signed by the United States and China Wednesday will have only a limited impact on Taiwan's economy, according to an initial assessment by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

The bilateral deal, which is being billed as "phase one" of a comprehensive trade agreement, was signed by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴) in Washington, dialing down roughly a year and a half of trade hostilities between the world's two largest economies.

On Thursday, however, the MOEA downplayed the deal's potential impact on the domestic economy, noting its limited scale, as well as the significant barriers that remain before a second, more comprehensive phase of the agreement can be reached.

In an interview with CNA, Vice Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said that in phase one of the deal, a number of U.S. tariffs will remain in place, thus reducing the immediate impact on Taiwanese manufacturers.    [FULL  STORY]