Taiwan Tops $100 Billion In U.S. Trade For First Time In 2021

Taiwan-U.S. trade topped $100 billion in 2021 for the first time, passing the milestone in November.

When annual data is released next week, Taiwan is likely to rank as the nation’s No. 8-ranked trade partner, the island nation’s highest rank since 2006. Just eight years ago, it ranked No. 12. No top 10 trade partner has advanced more in that time period, outside of No. 10-ranked Vietnam.

It is only likely that Taiwan will rank eighth, up from No. 9, rather than certain, because less than 1% separates current No. 9 India and No. 10 Vietnam , which also topped $100 billion in U.S. trade through November, from Taiwan.

Neither India nor Vietnam has ever ranked higher than its current No. 9 and No 10 spot, respectively. Taiwan, on the other hand, ranked as high as No. 6 in the early 1990s.

This is the eighth in a series of columns focused on each of the United States’ top 10 trade partners. I previously wrote a column about Mexico, currently the nation’s top-ranked trade partner, Canada, China, Japan, Germany, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

After this analysis of Taiwan are posts about No. 9 India and No. 10 Vietnam. These 10 account for two-thirds of all U.S. trade, with just the top three at better than 43% this year.

I wrote a similar series of columns about the nation’s top 10 ports — the top-ranked Port of Los Angeles, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Port Laredo in Texas, New York’s JFK International, the Port of Newark, the Port of Houston, Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge, Los Angeles International Airport and the Port of Savannah.

All are based on my analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, which I have been slicing and dicing for two decades.

Taiwanese trade with the United States was up 24.87% through November, when compared to the first 11 months of 2020, which is a slightly faster clip than the overall U.S. average with the world, 21.93%. Six of the nation’s top 10 trade partners are growing faster than the national average.

But, looking at Taiwan’s trade compared to the first 11 months of 2019, pre-pandemic, only No. 10 Vietnam has seen its trade grow more rapidly. Taiwan’s trade has increased 32.22%, Vietnam’s 44.26% and the United States as a whole, 9.67%.

U.S. exports to Taiwan have increased 16.58%, or about three times the U.S. average, while imports have increased 27.59% which is slightly faster than the U.S. average of 21.40%.

The U.S. trade deficit with Taiwan has tripled in just the last five years, from $12.54 billion to $36.60 billion. It actually ranks lower for the size of its deficit, at No. 9, than for overall trade because of even greater U.S. deficits with No. 10 Vietnam, No. 12 Ireland and No. 17 Malaysia but a lesser one with South Korea and a surplus with the United Kingdom.

Taiwan’s leading imports into the United States are largely about technology, with computers and computer parts each accounting for better than 11%, computer chips as well as cell phone and parts accounting for better than 6% and digital storage devices at 4.57%.

On the export side, the top two products account for 25% of the total: semiconductor machinery and parts as well as computer chips. Oil, aircraft and parts, and passenger vehicles round out the top five.

The Los Angeles area dominates U.S. trade with Taiwan, with the Port of Los Angeles accounting for 16% of the value, followed by Los Angeles International Airport at 9.2%. The Port of Long Beach accounts for another 4.3%, according to the Census Bureau data, meaning those three are responsible for just under 30% of the total.