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By Chang Kuo-tsai 張國財
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In the face of US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has ludicrously linked the tariffs’ impact on our nation with the mass recall movement their party is facing — a notion that is entirely nonsensical. Over the past year, the opposition parties have undermined the Constitution and thrown governance into chaos, bringing administrative bodies to near-paralysis. Now, in desperation, they are crying out for everyone to “stop the fighting.”
Is that not the pot calling the kettle black? None of the other countries facing Trump’s tariffs are in the midst of a recall movement — clearly, a recall has no connection with the likelihood of being impacted by tariffs.
If Taiwan wants to convince Trump to reduce those tariffs, it must decrease its trade surplus with the US, and to do that KMT lawmakers must be recalled. Blue camp legislators hold a pro-China, anti-US stance. They have consistently attempted to block purchases of arms and agricultural products from the US, making it impossible to reduce the trade surplus. Therefore, removing KMT legislators from office would remove the trade barriers between Taiwan and the US, and increase Taiwan’s imports of US-manufactured products, including weapons and agricultural goods.
Supporting anti-US KMT legislators would undoubtedly lead to higher tariffs against Taiwan. If our nation listens to the blue camp and latches itself onto China, our tariffs would increase from the current 32 percent to China’s 125 percent. As soon as Taiwan aligns itself closely with China — as soon as it becomes part of China’s dubious production schemes — the tariffs placed on our country could skyrocket to resemble those of Cambodia or Vietnam, at 49 percent and 46 percent respectively.
If Taiwan wants to mitigate the harm of Trump’s tariffs, recalling anti-US, pro-China KMT legislators would be a huge first step the public could take to work towards achieving that goal.
Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired National Hsinchu University of Education associate professor.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
