Taiwan proposes another $10b in aid to deal with US tariffs

Taiwan’s premier on Thursday proposed another $10 billion in spending as a special budget to help the economy deal with the impact of U.S. tariffs.

Taiwan had been due to be hit with 32% U.S. tariffs two weeks ago, until President Donald Trump paused his “reciprocal tariffs” for 90 days.

Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, Premier Cho Jung-tai said the initial T$88 billion ($2.71 billion) aid package would be increased to as much as T$410 billion ($12.61 billion), including financing assistance for companies, measures to stabilise the job market and subsidies for electricity.

The special budget will need to be approved by parliament, where opposition parties have a majority and have this year imposed sweeping cuts on Taiwan’s main budget, saying they are targeting waste.

Taiwan’s government has already begun talks with the United States on the tariffs and pledged billions of dollars in new purchases to reduce the island’s yawning trade surplus.

Increasing purchases of U.S. natural gas and oil is a focus of Taiwan’s tariff talks with the United States, President Lai Ching-te said on Tuesday.

($1 = 32.5130 Taiwan dollars)