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Benefits of the US-Taiwan FTA » State by State
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New Mexico  
Taiwan shares a close economic relationship with New Mexico. In 20042006, New Mexico exported $74145 million worth of products to Taiwan, making Taiwan New Mexico¡¦s 86th largest export market. Leading exports to Taiwan include computer and electronic products, machinery, food and chemicals. Still, with New Mexico¡¦s exports accounting for a relatively small share in U.S.¡¦ $23 billion export to Taiwan, there remain substantial opportunities for growth in New Mexico-Taiwan trade. Accordingly, in the hope of strengthening economic ties between the U.S. and Taiwan, including business opportunities for New Mexico, Taiwan has been pushing for the signing of a Taiwan-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (U.S. ¡V Taiwan FTA).
New Mexico has two world-renowned laboratories¡Xthe Los Alamos and Sandia National laboratories¡Xand has developed clusters of high-tech industries in the nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and agriculture sectors. Taiwan is also focusing development efforts in the biotech and nanotech industries. TUFTA would provide great opportunities for further cooperation between Taiwan and New Mexico in these strategic areas, particularly in mass manufacturing, product commercialization and R&D.
The signing of U.S. ¡V Taiwan FTA would also improve the access of New Mexico¡¦s products to the Taiwanese market through tariff reductions and other trade facilitation measures. Taiwan already purchases $2.6 billion worth of agricultural products from the U.S. annually. With TUFTA in place, Taiwan would to import more agricultural and industrial products from New Mexico. The agreement would not only help stimulate the development of New Mexico¡¦s industries, but also help New Mexico¡¦s products and services enter Asia Pacific markets via Taiwan. Studies have shown that the economic advantages from an FTA with Taiwan will far exceed those from most FTAs that the U.S. has already signed.
The U.S.¡¦ conclusion of the bilateral FTA negotiations with Korea on April of 2007 has had a very strong impact on Taiwan and other countries in the region. Both Taiwan and Korea are large and advanced economies. In 2006, Korea and Taiwan were the United States' 7th and 9th largest trading partners. From a commercial perspective, if Korea can offer a huge potential opportunity for the U.S., Taiwan will be able to do so, too. Most Taiwanese products are in head-to-head competition with those of Korea in the U.S. market. We worry that Taiwan will lose out in the U.S. market as soon as the Korea-U.S. FTA comes into effect. Taiwan has a unique geographical location in the Asia Pacific region and a long-term partnership with the U.S. For our mutual benefits and America¡¦s strategic interests in this region, we hope to launch the negotiation with the U.S. as soon as possible.
As of April 2007, the U.S. ¡V Taiwan FTA proposal has been endorsed by a total of 64 legislatures of 38 states, the Council of State Governments and the National Association of Secretaries of State. Given the great benefits to the State of New Mexico made possible by U.S. ¡V Taiwan FTA, we hope that the administration, Senate and House of Representatives of the State of New Mexico will convey their strong support for U.S. ¡V Taiwan FTA to the Bush Administration.
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