President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) stated on Tuesday, October 21, that Taiwan's tariff negotiations with the United States were progressing and could soon yield positive results. Economic Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) told lawmakers Wednesday that his team is striving for tariffs not to overlap and fall below 20%, adding that it looks promising so far. 

Since the U.S. Reciprocal Tariff Act took effect on August 7, Taiwan has faced a provisional 20% levy on exports. Lai earlier clarified that the ongoing talks do not involve exchange rate issues and expressed optimism that a breakthrough is near.  

Kung said Taiwan and the U.S. have reached a broad technical consensus and are awaiting a concluding meeting to finalize an agreement. “From what I understand, both sides generally share the same direction,” he said. “So once the summary meeting is held, there could be a deal.” 

Asked whether negotiations might conclude before the end of October, Kung reiterated that this remains Taipei’s goal. However, he noted that U.S. scheduling constraints related to the upcoming APEC summit in South Korea might affect the timing of the final meeting.