Taiwan’s trade agreements
A WTO member with a short list of agreements, a framework with the Mainland that is partly on hold, and a United States deal signed but not yet in force
Taiwan is one of the world’s great trading economies and one of the least covered by trade agreements. It trades under WTO rules in its own right, has a handful of bilateral agreements, and its two most important arrangements — with the Mainland and with the United States — are respectively partly suspended and awaiting ratification. Each preference therefore has to be checked against the product, the destination and the date. This note sets out what is in force in October 2026, what is not, and what a company exporting from Taiwan can rely on.
What is Taiwan’s status in world trade?
Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization on 1 January 2002, as its 144th member, under the name of the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu — “Chinese Taipei” in WTO usage. It applies the WTO agreements in its own right, joined the Government Procurement Agreement on 15 July 2009 and takes part in the expanded Information Technology Agreement, which removes duties on most of the electronics it makes. Its average applied most-favoured-nation tariff is 6.4 percent (2025), and only 1.8 percent weighted by trade: for most industrial goods, the tariff a preference would remove is already low.
Which agreements are in force?
| Agreement | In force | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| ECFA — framework agreement with the Mainland | 12 Sept 2010 | An “early harvest” of tariff cuts: 539 Taiwanese product lines into the Mainland, 267 Mainland lines into Taiwan. Concessions on 146 Taiwanese lines are suspended by Beijing since 2024. |
| ANZTEC — New Zealand | 1 Dec 2013 | A comprehensive free-trade agreement; the last tariff phase-outs, on dairy products and deer velvet, ended in 2025. |
| ASTEP — Singapore | 19 Apr 2014 | Singapore removed all duties at once; Taiwan reaches duty-free treatment on practically all trade from 1 January 2028. |
| Panama, Guatemala | 2004, 2006 | Free-trade agreements with Central American partners, still applied. |
| Paraguay, Eswatini, Belize, Marshall Islands | 2018 – 2025 | Economic cooperation agreements with tariff concessions on listed products. |
| US–Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, first agreement | 10 Dec 2024 | Customs and trade facilitation, regulatory practice, services regulation, anticorruption and small businesses. No tariff cuts. |
Three earlier agreements have ended with the partner’s change of diplomatic recognition: Taiwan stopped applying the agreement with Nicaragua on 1 July 2022, the agreement with Honduras ended in December 2023, and the Executive Yuan moved in May 2023 to end the agreement with El Salvador.
What is left of ECFA?
The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement was signed in Chongqing on 29 June 2010 and entered into force on 12 September 2010. Its early harvest is the only tariff preference between the two sides. Beijing suspended its concessions on 12 Taiwanese lines, chiefly petrochemicals such as propylene and paraxylene, from 1 January 2024, and on 134 more, including lubricant base oils, from 15 June 2024: 146 of the 539 lines no longer benefit. No further suspension had been announced by October 2026, and the Mainland authorities have declined to say whether the rest will follow. The services agreement signed in 2013 never entered into force; the investment protection agreement of 2012 remains on the books.
A cross-Strait preference can be withdrawn by an announcement made about two weeks before it takes effect. Whether a product still qualifies is checked line by line, against the Mainland’s current list, before a price is quoted on ECFA terms — not taken from last year’s contract.
Where does the United States stand?
The relationship rests on three instruments, only one of which is in force. The first agreement under the US–Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, signed on 1 June 2023, has applied since 10 December 2024; it deals with customs and regulation, not tariffs. An investment arrangement concluded on 15 January 2026 commits Taiwanese companies to at least US$250 billion of direct investment in the United States, backed by at least US$250 billion of Taiwanese government credit guarantees, and sets ceilings on future U.S. duties, including quotas exempt from any national-security duty on semiconductors. The Agreement on Reciprocal Trade, signed on 12 February 2026, commits Taiwan to remove or reduce 99 percent of its tariff barriers on U.S. goods — 27 lines, including rice and chicken, are untouched — and to buy about US$85 billion of U.S. energy, power equipment and aircraft by 2030.
Neither the investment arrangement nor the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade had been submitted to the Legislative Yuan by October 2026. On 6 October the Premier said they would go to the legislature together, once the U.S. investigation into industrial overcapacity under Section 301 is closed and the terms are confirmed. Until then they do not apply.
On 20 February 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court held that the emergency-powers statute did not authorise the “reciprocal” tariffs. A temporary 10 percent surcharge replaced them from 24 February to 24 July 2026. Since 24 July a Section 301 tariff applies to Taiwan among sixty economies: where a product’s ordinary U.S. duty is below 10 percent, the total is raised to 10 percent; where it is 10 percent or more, nothing is added. Semiconductors are exempt; sectoral duties under Section 232 apply separately. The rate for a given product is confirmed on the day the contract is priced.
Who else has an arrangement with Taiwan?
Beyond the agreements above, Taiwan relies on arrangements that are narrower or not binding. With the United Kingdom, an Enhanced Trade Partnership signed on 8 November 2023 was followed on 30 June 2025 by three pillar arrangements on digital trade, energy and net zero, and investment; they are not legally binding. Canada and Taiwan signed a foreign investment promotion and protection arrangement on 22 December 2023. With Japan, an investment arrangement dates from 2011 and a digital trade agreement was signed on 4 December 2025. Investment agreements also link Taiwan with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Thailand, among others. The European Union has no trade or investment agreement with Taiwan; the two hold an annual Trade and Investment Dialogue, the fourth on 12 December 2025.
Taiwan applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on 22 September 2021. Accession needs the consent of every member; the commission meeting of 26 June 2026 moved forward with other candidates, not with Taiwan. Taiwan is not a party to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
What can a company exporting from Taiwan rely on?
Origin follows the goods
Goods are Taiwanese when their last substantial transformation takes place in Taiwan: a change in the first six digits of the tariff classification, or value added in Taiwan above 35 percent of the export price. A company incorporated in Taiwan exports on the same terms as any Taiwanese exporter; its foreign parent does not bring its own preferences with it. Where an agreement sets its own rules — ECFA combines a change of heading with a regional value content, often 40 or 50 percent — the agreement prevails.
The certificate is issued, not declared
Certificates of origin are issued by the International Trade Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs — the former Bureau of Foreign Trade — or by the business federations and associations it authorises. Each agreement has its own form and its own product rules: a product that qualifies under one may fail under another, and the choice is made consignment by consignment.
Where do the goods actually go?
In 2025 the United States became Taiwan’s largest export market over a full year for the first time since 2000, with 30.9 percent of exports, ahead of Mainland China and Hong Kong at 26.6 percent — their lowest share in about twenty-five years — and ASEAN at 18.6 percent. The markets that matter most to Taiwanese exporters are therefore precisely those where preferences are thinnest: the United States, where the agreement is not in force, and the Mainland, where it is partly suspended. The tariff a Taiwanese factory faces depends less on its agreements than on the product it ships.
What we check on a file
Whether the product actually originates in Taiwan under the rule that applies, and can be certified; whether the preference is still in force on the line concerned — the ECFA list in particular; the U.S. duty on the product on the date of the contract, including any Section 232 duty; and whether a double-taxation agreement covers the payments the structure will make, since the 21 percent withholding on dividends is reduced only where one applies. Where a project depends on an agreement that is signed but not in force, we say so before the costs are committed.
Terms you will meet
| Term | What it is |
|---|---|
| Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu 臺澎金馬個別關稅領域 | Taiwan’s name as a member of the WTO. |
| Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) 海峽兩岸經濟合作架構協議 | The 2010 framework agreement with the Mainland and its early harvest of tariff cuts. |
| International Trade Administration 經濟部國際貿易署 | The trade agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, formerly the Bureau of Foreign Trade; issues certificates of origin and registers exporters and importers. |
| Office of Trade Negotiations 行政院經貿談判辦公室 | The office of the Executive Yuan that negotiates and lists Taiwan’s trade agreements. |
| Certificate of origin 產地證明書 | The document that proves where goods were made, required to claim a preference. |