U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a 90-day pause on the higher tariffs imposed on roughly 60 countries. At the same time, Trump has increased his levy on Chinese goods to 125%. Taiwan has confirmed that it is among those to get the 90-day reprieve. The foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung, says Taipei is prepared to negotiate with Washington at any time.
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00:00In a major turnaround, U.S. President Donald Trump has put a 90-day pause on his so-called
00:06reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries.
00:09The tariffs announced a week ago were to, quote, liberate the U.S. from what Trump says
00:13is other countries taking advantage of them.
00:16The pause excludes China, which now faces an increased 125 percent levy from the U.S.
00:23Let's get more from Joyce Zeng, who has been following developments for us from our newsroom
00:27in Taipei.
00:28Joyce, why is Trump issuing this pause now, and is Taiwan included?
00:34Right, it's a significant shift in Trump's policy.
00:40Look, earlier this week, there were rumors that the U.S. would pause the tariffs that caused
00:45U.S. markets to briefly bounce back.
00:48But that rumor was quickly shut down by the White House and markets sunk back down.
00:53But now we're hearing it from Trump himself.
00:55He's paused a slew of higher tariffs on roughly 60 countries, which includes Taiwan, lowering
01:01them to 10 percent for 90 days.
01:04Now, this morning, Taiwanese officials have said that this gives them some breathing room
01:09to negotiate.
01:10A sharp turn after days of market turmoil.
01:15U.S. President Donald Trump pauses the sweeping so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries,
01:22levies that sent stocks across the world tumbling.
01:25Trump saying he wrote up the new policy after thinking about it over the last few days.
01:30We wrote it up from our hearts, right?
01:32We don't want to hurt countries that don't need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.
01:38The only problem is, you know, you can only do so many at one time.
01:40Earlier this week, the White House said around 70 countries had already reached out to strike a deal.
01:46Taiwan, which has been bracing for a 32 percent tariff on most of its goods going to the U.S.,
01:53had offered to start negotiations on the basis of zero tariffs.
01:57President Lai Qingde already ruling out retaliatory tariffs.
02:02Speaking to lawmakers, Foreign Minister Lin Jialong confirmed that Taiwan is among those to get the 90-day reprieve.
02:18Lin says Taiwan is prepared to negotiate with the added time
02:22and address Taiwan's large trade surplus with the U.S., a trade imbalance Trump has criticized.
02:32Lin says Taiwan's large trade surplus with the U.S., a trade surplus with the U.S., a trade-off,
02:38a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off, a trade-off.
02:44As for support for local small and medium-sized firms,
02:48Economy Minister J.W. Guo says the Cabinet's proposed 2.7 billion U.S. dollar aid package will not change
02:56and will go through as planned in the coming days.
03:00Despite changes to U.S. policy, Taiwan says its priority to safeguard the economy and the country's
03:10interests remains the same, and that it's ready to negotiate with Washington at any time.
03:17Trade negotiator Yan Huixing says Taiwan is using multiple channels to try and get these talks set up.
03:24She says that Taiwan has reached out to the U.S. Treasury, the Commerce Department, and trade agency.
03:30She says Taiwan is on the list for talks, but as to when that will be or whether other countries will
03:36have priority over Taiwan, officials today still say that they'll have to wait and see,
03:41but that they're proactively approaching their U.S. counterparts.