Taiwan does not plan to impose reciprocal tariffs on imports from the United States, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Sunday, after US President Donald Trump hit the island with a 32% levy.
Taiwan's government has criticised the tax as "unfair" and "highly unreasonable", but stopped short of threatening its most important security backer with new tariffs of its own.
Instead, Taiwan has earmarked $2.7 billion to help industries affected by the new levy, which was among sweeping global tariffs announced by Trump last week.
"In response to the United States' 'reciprocal tariffs', Taiwan has no plans to impose retaliatory tariffs," Lai said.
"But we must let the United States clearly understand Taiwan's contributions to the economic development of the United States."
Lai made the announcement after meeting with members of Taiwan's information and communications technology sector, or ICT, and businesses over the weekend.
Taiwan's trade surplus with the United States is the seventh highest of any country, reaching $73.9 billion in 2024.
Around 60 percent of Taiwan's exports to the United States are ICT, which includes semiconductor chips. Chips were excluded from Trump's new tariffs.
Taipei has argued that the surplus reflected soaring demand in the United States for Taiwan's semiconductors and other tech products, further driven by US tariffs and export controls targeting China that Trump imposed during his first term.

Outlining various strategies to safeguard the Taiwanese economy, Lai said the government had formed a team to negotiate with Washington.

"The tariff negotiations may begin by referring to the USMCA model, starting with the concept of 'zero tariffs' between Taiwan and the United States," Lai said, referring to the trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Taiwan would also buy more US products to reduce the deficit, increase investment in the United States, eliminate non-tariff barriers and diversify markets, Lai said.

While the US levy would have a "significant impact" on export-driven Taiwan, Lai urged Taiwanese people "not to panic".

Lai said the Taiwanese economy still possessed "considerable resilience", pointing out that more than 75% of its exports were shipped to countries other than the United States.

"As long as the response strategy is appropriate and there is public-private cooperation, the impact can be reduced," Lai said.

Analysts have warned that tariffs on components would have a knock-on effect on the critical chip industry, which Taiwan dominates and is the lifeblood of the global economy.

Trump has accused Taiwan of stealing the US chip industry and recently threatened to impose tariffs of up to 100% on semiconductor imports from the island.

China has added 11 US firms, including Skydio and BRINC Drones, to its unreliable entity list, the country's commerce ministry announced on Friday.
These companies, in disregard of strong opposition from China, have undertaken so-called military technology cooperation with Taiwan, seriously undermining China's national sovereignty, security and development interests, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
China holds the 11 firms accountable for their unlawful activities, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, according to the statement.
China always handles issues related to its unreliable entity list prudently, and only targets the very few foreign entities that undermine China's national security, the spokesperson said.
"There is nothing to worry about for honest and law-abiding foreign entities," said the spokesperson.
The Chinese government, as always, welcomes companies from all countries to invest and operate in China, and is committed to providing a stable, fair and predictable business environment for foreign enterprises that operate in accordance with laws and regulations, said the spokesperson.

The prices of LPG remain unchanged at the consumer level for the month of April. The price of a 12 kg LPG cylinder has been maintained at Tk1,450 for this month.
 According to an announcement by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), the price per kg of LPG has been kept unchanged at Tk120.81 for April.
The announcement was made by BERC on Sunday.
BERC also stated that the price of “auto gas” (LPG used for motor vehicles) has been reduced by 2 paisa, from Tk 66.43 to Tk 66.41 per litre for the current month.
Last month, the price of a 12-kg LPG cylinder was reduced by Tk28, from Tk1,478 to Tk1,450.