The two countries have officially agreed to the tariff cuts previously announced.
Bangkok Post reported on Taiwan and Thailand’s decisions to “become parties to an agreement” on cutting tariffs for a wide range of IT products. The tariffs were cut by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) last week, with over 200 products seeing tariffs cut, including printer cartridges, to “zero”.
The finalisation of the deal between the members of the WTO will see around $1 trillion (€923 billion) in world trade “unlock[ed]”. The Recycler reported earlier this month that a “breakthrough” had been made in talks at the European Union Embassy in Geneva between WTO ambassadors, and the deal has now been confirmed.
The organisation’s Information Technology Agreement has agreed to “eliminate tariffs on an array of technology products”, with the products concerned including “semiconductors, MRI machines, GPS devices, printer cartridges [and] video game consoles”. Final details are set to be ironed out at the next meeting in December, but the deal “updates the 18-year-old IT agreement” and “adds 200 products to the zero tariff list”.
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The process will see negotiators start talks in September on “schedules of concessions”, known as “staging”, which allows nations to “gradually phase in the tariff reductions for certain products deemed too sensitive”. This will then be followed by “technical negotiations” before the WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi from 15 to 18 December, with “the goal of completing the agreement” set for this event.
Taiwan and Thailand confirmed their acceptance of the agreement this week, with the agreement the “first tariff-eliminating deal in 18 years” made by the WTO. Both nations were involved in negotiations that “sought more time to consider the agreement” after it was confirmed last week, but they have now decided to join it.