SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Taiwan on Thursday lifted its COVID-19 entry restrictions after two and a half years of closed borders.
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Visitors to Taiwan are no longer required to quarantine upon entry or take any PCR tests. Instead, they will need to wear a mask, monitor their health for a week after arriving and obtain a negative result on a rapid antigen test the day they arrive.
The re-opening comes as U.S. trade representatives are ready for further trade talks with Taiwan.
"We do hope that the U.S. and Taiwan will be able to start negotiating very soon," Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, Scott Lai, told KCBS Radio.
Taiwan is a critical supplier of technology as the eighth largest trading partner of the United States. Meanwhile, the U.S. is Taiwan's second largest trading partner after China.
Last year, the country exported $77 billion to the U.S.
"Silicon Valley is the same (top imports from Taiwan as the rest of the U.S.),” Lai said. "It's semiconductors, computer parts, followed by communication equipment."
While Taiwan has a trade surplus with the U.S., they do import California agricultural products.
"We love peaches,cherries, grapes, apples, oranges, every kind of vegetable. Nuts as well. The market is there,” Lai explained.
Other Taiwanese imports from the U.S. include machinery, fuels, medical instruments and aircrafts.
Lai added that trade talks are especially important now as "after the COVID-19 pandemic, every country is thinking about realignment of the global supply chain."
Further talks between the US and Taiwan are expected later this fall, though they will not include discussions over tariff reductions.
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