Taiwan, US enter ‘harder’ phase of trade talks as mainland China bristles

Negotiators from Taiwan and the United States concluded five days of complex talks over the second phase of their trade deal on Friday, with analysts predicting “harder” progress in negotiations due to the numerous labour, environmental and agricultural practices involved.

Teams from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) and Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations began work on phase two of the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade on Monday.

In “brief but busy” sessions this week, the two sides discussed labour rights, the promotion of “green enterprises”, agricultural laws and food safety, the Taiwanese team said in a statement on Friday, adding the two sides “increased mutual understanding”.

Before the talks, the US had raised the labour and environmental practices of the giant Taiwanese distant-water fishing fleet as areas of concern. The two sides anticipate meeting again to pursue further agreement, the statement added.

“Reaching an agreement on the second phase will be harder than negotiations for the first,” said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Centre think tank in Hawaii.

“The initiative intentionally sets an agenda of dealing with the lower-hanging fruit first and the harder issues later.”

Two-way trade totalled US$116.8 billion last year, Taiwan customs data showed.

American businesses would be able to sell more products in Taiwan as a result of phase one of the deal, the USTR said last week.

But where Taiwan’s distant-water fishing is concerned, circumstances are thornier. The US Department of Labour lists the fish caught by the fleet as goods produced by minors or under forced conditions.

Fishing boat workers are normally migrants from Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The US has asked