Taiwan protests over Canadian bias on textile tariffs

15 Apr '10

2 min read

Taiwan might lodge a complaint with the Word Trade Organisation (WTO), against Canada's long-standing refusal to levy Generalized Preferential Tariffs (GPT) on Taiwan-made textile products.

Canada provides GPT treatment, since 1974, to over 1,000 products including textiles from South Korea, China and several other countries, whose economies are similar to that of Taiwan.

According to an official from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), since Taiwan's access into WTO in 2002, Taiwan has been pursuing Canada for GPT treatment. However, Canada has not responded to the requests and has turned a deaf ear to their pleas.

During an economic and trade consultation conference between the two countries in January, Canada responded to Taiwan's requests. But the response never reached the next level of consideration, informed the official.

Currently, in Canada, Taiwan is listed under the Most Favoured Nations (MFN) tariff treatment, under which tariff rates range between 3 and 6 percent.

However, most of the other 1,000-plus items that enjoy GPT treatment have zero tariffs. Therefore, the tariff gap between GPT and MFN, especially for textile goods is 3.51 percent. This has hindered Taiwan-made textile's competitiveness in the Canadian market, when compared with similar South Korean and Chinese products.

Says, Minister of Economic Affairs, Shih Yen-shiang, “To protest against, Canada's bias nature for Taiwan's textile products, we have directed important MOEA agencies, to try and convince the Canadian government to change the tariff treatment. If required, a protest or complaint will be filed accordingly.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India

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