ISTANBUL
Taiwan’s leader Lai Ching-te called Thursday for exploring “'more diverse markets” amid US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to Focus Taiwan.
Lai made the comments during a meeting with a parliamentary delegation from New Zealand in Taipei, where he said Taiwan is eager to boost trade and business prospects with Wellington in the face of global economic challenges.
He said Taiwan and New Zealand could work together to "explore even more diverse markets," citing areas such as smart agriculture, food production, biomedicine, the digital economy, and clean energy.
In response to the challenges of a changing world, Lai said the two partners should strengthen cooperation to drive economic growth and industrial development.
He did not specify the challenges, but Taiwan has advocated for market diversification since the imposition of US tariffs on its products earlier this month.
Trump initially imposed a 32% tariff on goods from Taiwan, but later paused the measures for 90 days for most countries except China, and imposed a baseline tariff of 10%.
Lai previously said Taipei would not respond with retaliatory tariffs and instead planned to increase imports of US goods to help reduce the trade deficit.
Taiwan’s economy is heavily reliant on global trade, with exports accounting for about 70% of its gross domestic product, according to the US Congress.
Taiwan is the United States’ seventh-largest merchandise trading partner.