TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Amid rising fears related to the termination of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) tariff reductions, corporate entities said on Friday (Dec. 22) that the impact on Taiwan's petrochemical industry has been limited.
The de-escalation of Taiwan's dependency on China for exports comes as China aggressively boosts its domestic supply of petrochemical products, the corporate entities perceived.
These entities further elaborated that Taiwanese firms are expanding into other export markets and focusing their efforts on enhancing the competitiveness of their high-value products.
Such a move comes in response to China's accusations of Taiwan implementing discriminatory bans and restrictive measures on Chinese products, which China's Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council views as violating the ECFA.
ECFA's "Early Harvest List" included 88 tax reductions on Taiwan's petrochemical industry by China.
With the suspension of tariff privileges, these corporations contend the tax rate on the associated products could rise from the current 0% to between 2% and 10%, the corporate entities noted.