Financial Times Quotes Clete Willems on US/Taiwan Trade Relations
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Akin Gump public law and policy partner Clete Willems has been quoted in the Financial Times story “Carmakers’ chip woes are a blessing for Taipei,” which reports, in part, on trade relations between the United States and Taiwan.
According to the FT, Biden administration officials have made overtures in recent weeks toward Taiwanese ministers over the idling of car plants across the United States due to a drought in semiconductor chips—most of which are produced in Taiwan by TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer. It’s unclear, though, the article says, what the Taiwanese government can do about it since TSMC is a private company and is already operating at capacity.
While a trade deal with Taipei has long been a thorny issue in Washington, the FT notes, one way to strengthen supply chains and engage in the Asia-Pacific region, Willems suggested, could be a limited trade deal agreeing on security standards for electronics, 5G and artificial intelligence.