Taipei: Premier Cho Jung-tai met with ruling and opposition party lawmakers on Monday to rally support for a government-proposed bill partly aimed at mitigating any negative effects of impending American tariffs. Cho said the NT$410 billion (US$12.6 billion) special bill is intended not only to respond to tariff adjustments announced by the Trump administration but to bolster Taiwan’s economic, social, and homeland security resilience “in response to international developments.”
According to Focus Taiwan, the premier stated that the funding would come from budget surpluses of previous years and “won’t increase the government’s debt” through new borrowing. The bill allocates NT$93 billion for industry and employment support, NT$150 billion for strengthening homeland security resilience, and NT$167 billion for social welfare measures, including subsidies for electricity costs and insurance fund injections.
The funds supporting industry include NT$12 billion in interest subsidies for trade financing, NT$5 billion for expanded small business loan guarantees, and NT$25 billion for research and development grants for businesses, Cho said. The homeland security budget would fund new patrol vessels to counter Chinese “gray zone” maritime activities, build new storage and backup facilities for critical supplies, and upgrade Taiwan’s cybersecurity defenses, he added.
Subsidies would also be provided to cover electricity costs that state-owned Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) has absorbed over the past three years, with NT$100 billion budgeted for that purpose. Premier Cho Jung-tai and Fu Kun-chi, caucus whip of the main opposition Kuomintang, discussed the proposal in detail.
Fu Kun-chi, from the Kuomintang (KMT), expressed support for actions to counter U.S. tariffs but raised concerns that only 23 percent of the funding was directly linked to trade measures. He suggested that “non-urgent parts” of the special bill, such as the subsidies for Taipower, could be proposed separately through a standard supplementary budget or other process.
KMT caucus secretary-general Wang Hung-wei criticized the act’s expansion from NT$88 billion to NT$410 billion and questioned why industry assistance increased only from NT$88 billion to NT$93 billion despite the larger overall growth. The Cabinet had initially pledged a NT$88 billion relief package earlier in April to help Taiwanese exporters survive the adverse impact of a newly announced 32 percent tariff on their goods.
Wang expressed concern over the adequacy of government support for affected businesses, farmers, and workers given the scale of the expected economic impact. She also questioned the rationale for proposing another NT$100 billion injection into Taipower after similar subsidies had been previously reduced by the Legislative Yuan.
Huang Kuo-chang, caucus whip of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), voiced full support for financial assistance for businesses and workers but criticized the government for not providing a detailed impact assessment report. He suggested that the government might be attempting to “smuggle” previous spending proposals, like the Taipower subsidy, into the new special act without sufficient justification.
TPP deputy caucus convener Chang Chi-kai argued that the budget violated fiscal discipline by blending unrelated projects into an urgent bill meant to address tariff issues. Premier Cho emphasized that the government’s goal is to negotiate tariffs with the United States at rates “no higher than those imposed by the U.S. on competitor countries,” while maintaining Taiwan’s industrial competitiveness and safeguarding consumer habits.