On Wednesday (November 8), the UK and Taiwan signed an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP), formalising the aims of both countries to boost their economic ties and promote further trade.
The UK Government states that the partnership will lead to further dialogue on two-way investment, digital trade, and energy and net-zero.
Taiwan and the UK are important trading partners, with there also being significant mutual benefits from deepening their ties. According to Taiwan's Office of Trade Negotiations, trade between the two nations reached $6.64 billion last year, which was a 1.73% rise from the year prior.
With the semiconductor industry coming into focus in recent years the two nations have examples of industry success that could benefit from deeper economic ties. For example, the UK is one of the world leaders in semiconductor intellectual property. Whereas Taiwan is the world's leader of semiconductor fabrication. techUK was delighted to formally meet with a recent delegation of Taiwanese semiconductor companies at CogX in September 2023.
The importance of advanced chip processing capability is essential for developing technology - in particular advances in artificial intelligence benefits from large amounts of processing power. Lowering trade barriers between the two countries could help to power innovations in AI, boosting the strength of the UK tech sector. Taiwan is also an important ally for the UK when it comes to digital trade.
The UK Minister of State for International Trade Nigel Huddleston stated that increasing trade with Taiwan would be an essential part of Britain's strategic “Indo-Pacific” tilt.
This comes at the same time as the UK joining the CPTPP - a trade bloc of 11 countries in the Indo-Pacific region. The Taiwanese government also seeks to join and hopes that better relations with the UK could aid its bid to to do so. The ETP is further evidence of the U.K.'s shift towards the Indo-Pacific and its aim of strengthening political and economic ties as outlined in the 2021 Integrated Review. Taiwan is the third country that the UK has engaged in ETP discussion with, the previous ones being India and Thailand.
The UK Government announced that both sides will start engaging with businesses in both the UK and Taiwan on the ETP in due course. techUK will be keeping track of all future developments between Taiwan and the UK. During the first quarter of 2024, techUK is hoping to host a Taiwan-UK trade event. If you have any inquiries, please get into contact Daniel Clarke, Policy Manager in the International team on daniel.clarke@techuk.org.