Taiwan further opens its domestic market to American beef and pork

Audio 01:42

By: Claire Fages Follow

A new sign of rapprochement between Taiwan and the United States vis-à-vis China, the government of Taipei announces that it is opening the borders wider to American beef and pork, by making sanitary concessions. This could be the first step towards a US-Taiwan free trade agreement.

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Taiwan is opening its borders to American beef over 30 months old, it was banned after mad cow cases in the United States in the early 2000s. The Asian island now also accepts American pork containing ractopamine, a dopant widely used in North America to increase the muscle mass of the animal, but which is still banned by the European Union, by Russia, by China and was therefore banned by Taiwan.

Taipei renounces strict health rules

The Chinese nationalist island is one of the countries in the world where the consumption of meat is the highest per capita, 90 kilos. It is therefore a very interesting import market. In fact, the United States was already Taiwan's leading supplier of beef and fourth pork supplier, but in small quantities, 70,000 tonnes and 9,000 tonnes respectively. Because Taipei kept very strict rules on imported meat for two reasons: the demands of consumers and the desire to protect livestock, in particular pigs. The island is 90% self-sufficient in pork, even if its farms struggle to remain competitive.

Since 2010, the population is already more open to imported meat. That year an animal disease had decimated Taiwanese pig farms and led to the highest inflation of local meat in ten years. Last year, African swine fever from China made its appearance in Taiwan, in turn threatening farms.

Preparing the post-Covid economy in Taiwan

The sanitary concessions granted to meat imported from the United States take place in a very specific context. That of a rapprochement between Washington and Taipei, against the backdrop of increased military threats from Beijing in the Taiwan Strait. The nationalist island received the American Secretary of Health in early August, the first high-ranking visitor since the breakdown of diplomatic relations in 1979.

The timetable is favorable to the opening of negotiations for a free trade treaty, believes the President of Taiwan. Tsai Ing-wen denies exploiting the upcoming US presidential election, but she sees an opportunity to put Taiwan back at the heart of post-Covid exchanges. She said on Friday “  if we take a decisive step in this issue of American pork and beef, it will be an important start for American-Taiwanese cooperation, on all fronts.  ".

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