US-Taiwan FTA Roundtable Discussion in WaPo

The Washington Post hosts a roundtable discussion of a Taiwan-US FTA:

A Path Worth Taking? The Prospects and Challenges of a U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Deal

In recent years, the creation of numerous free trade agreements (FTAs) around the world has triggered a chain reaction, as countries fearing exclusion move forward to establish their own regional FTAs.

Taiwan, the world's sixteenth-largest trading power and the United States' ninth-largest trading partner, has indicated its desire for an FTA with the United States. Its technology-based economy and role as a doorway to China's market offers a larger potential trading relationship than any other country currently negotiating an FTA with the United States. Some feel that a U.S.-Taiwan FTA would send an unmistakable signal of U.S. support for democratic Taiwan. Others believe such a trade deal would complicate the U.S.'s relations in the region. Is a U.S.-Taiwan trade pact a path worth taking?

Mr. Fadah Hsieh, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Mr. John Chen-Chung Deng, current Deputy Representative, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the United States, will be online to answer your questions. In April Mr. John Chen-Chung Deng will become the Chief Negotiator, Office of Trade Negotiations, MOEA, the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Go here for the forum transcript.

[Taiwan] [US]