International Trade Committee on May 26th, 2026

[The Chair (Hon. Judy A. Sgro (Humber River—Black Creek, Lib.)), Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I'm calling the meeting to order.

Welcome, everyone, to meeting number 38 of the Standing Committee on International Trade. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, February 12, 2026, the committee is commencing its study of Canada-Taiwan trade-related co-operation.

We have with us today, from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada, Harry Ho-jen Tseng, representative, or ambassador, as I call him all the time. We have Henry Chih-hung Liu, director, and Ethan Han-ming Chen, deputy executive director.

Welcome. It's nice to see you all here.

We will start with opening remarks, and then we will proceed to rounds of questions from the members.

Representative Tseng, I invite you to make opening remarks for up to five minutes.

Welcome back to our committee. I know you have been here before. It's nice to see you again.

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng, Representative, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada]

Thank you.

Honourable chair and distinguished members of Parliament, thank you for inviting me to appear before the Standing Committee on International Trade. It is a great honour to sit as a witness.

Allow me to begin with a brief review of the recent trade relations between Canada and Taiwan.

Based on the four-year statistics for 2025, both Taiwan and Canada have maintained or reached historic highs in their respective global trade volumes. However, when examining the bilateral trade figures against each other's total global trade, the percentage appears remarkably low.

Taiwan's foreign trade, driven by sustained global demand for AI-related high-tech and ICT products, reached a record high in 2025, with total global trade of approximately $1.1 trillion U.S. Canada's total trade in goods and services, based on data from Statistics Canada, remained highly robust throughout 2025, with total trade of approximately $1.2 trillion U.S. As you can see, the difference between us is small.

According to recent official benchmarks, the annual trade volume between Taiwan and Canada hovers between $6 billion U.S. and $6.5 billion U.S., which is only about 0.5% to 0.6% of Taiwan's total global trade. Taiwan is Canada's 15th-largest trading partner globally and its sixth largest in Asia, yet their bilateral trade accounts for only about 0.5% of Canada's total global trade. Looking strictly at the nominal percentage, the mutual trade dependence between our two economies is below 1%.

Canada's strength lies in the upstream of the supply chain, while Taiwan's strength lies in the midstream to downstream sectors. Over the years, there has been a lack of a direct intermediate processing bridge between us. Consequently, many Canadian raw materials are exported to third countries for processing before being imported by Taiwan, which prevents these flows from being captured in direct bilateral trade statistics.

Does this imply a lack of focus on each other's market? The answer is no. The low percentage is not a result of neglect or negligence, but rather it is a reflection of their long-standing geo-economic structures, or so-called “market gravity”—that is, Canada's focus on the U.S. market and Taiwan's concentration on the markets of China plus Hong Kong, the ASEAN and the U.S.

Is there room for our bilateral trade to grow? Yes, there is immense room for growth, but both are required to engage with each other more. As global supply chains shift from cost-driven offshoring to security-driven friendshoring, we must speed up to undergo a structural shift.

In fact, thanks to the Canadian Indo-Pacific strategy, we have embarked upon that path already with the FIPA, or foreign investment promotion and protection arrangement, which was signed in 2023, followed by subsequent arrangements on supply chain resilience and the STIA, or science, technology and innovation arrangement, which was signed in 2024. These mechanisms provide legal protection and have triggered a noticeable surge in private investment from Taiwan.

The next logical step is to advance a trade co-operation framework arrangement. The TCFA will provide an important institutional framework to facilitate trade, investment, regulatory co-operation and supply chain integration between our two nations.

I would also like to call on Canada to continue to support Taiwan's accession to the CPTPP, which would further strengthen regional economic resilience and Taiwan-Canada economic ties.

Thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you today. I look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Mr. Tseng.

We will now open the floor to Mr. Mantle for six minutes, please.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Tseng and your colleagues, for appearing before the committee and providing testimony.

Let me start by saying that in my own view, in my own opinion, I'm a strong supporter of Taiwan and its continued freedom, especially in a part of the world where that is difficult. I hope that Canada will continue to support Taiwan, and I know that you have strong support in the opposition benches for that.

I want to ask you about the relationship between Canada and Taiwan, and whether you feel that it is important for Canadian members of Parliament to continue to visit Taiwan and build those relationships between our two countries.

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Thank you.

This is a very important question for us. I think these visits to Taiwan you mentioned are a long-term practice that has been there for more than 20 years. It is the best venue for Canadian politicians—in this case members of Parliament or senators—to really see what challenges we face in Taiwan. A visit speaks more than a thousand words.

Now, it's the cyber age, so I cannot see that.... To see is to believe. Sometimes to see is to not believe, but when you go to Taiwan, you have a whole week immersed in our environment, and you talk to the right people in Taiwan to help you understand our part of the world better. I really think that is a very important practice that we can continue. I hope I have the support of all of the members here.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you.

I want to ask you about the trade co-operation framework that we've heard about. To your knowledge, are there any outstanding negotiations that need to be completed with respect to that agreement?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

In terms of the negotiation, I think it was concluded well before one year ago. The text itself is finalized, but a legal review followed. I understand that the legal review has largely been completed. This is the status now, as I understand it.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Do you have any explanation for why Canada has not moved forward with implementing this agreement, then?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

I am not in a position to answer that question. I think you can direct the question to someone who knows this issue better as to why it has been there, idle, for more than a year.

As I said, the ball is in your court. It is for you to see whether you want to move on or you want to bring up an obstacle for both sides to solve. That's what I can offer here.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you.

This is the last question on the trade and co-operation agreement. Do you believe that the Liberal government is, at the behest of or out of fear of China, purposefully delaying the implementation of this agreement between Canada and Taiwan?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Again, I am not in a position to answer this question. I can understand that in the past year, so many things have been going on. In 2025, there was a change of government in Canada. There was an election, and so many things have happened, even in the geopolitical landscape.

I believe I have the goodwill of the counterpart I work with in the federal government, and we are looking forward to their co-operation to move on.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you.

You may be aware that Canada is revisiting its Indo-Pacific strategy, which was first brought into force in November 2022. I note that in the five years or so that this strategy has been ongoing, Canada has revised its security and defence arrangements with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, but not with Taiwan. We've conducted nine trade missions to the region since the strategy, but none to Taiwan. What message does Taiwan take from Canada's inaction with respect to Taiwan?

Do you feel that you are being consulted and that you will be included in the revisions to the Indo-Pacific strategy, or do you feel that Canada is icing you out of the region?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Thank you very much for the question.

In my five-minute remarks, I said that there is ample space for us to improve our bilateral trade, but it requires both sides to engage with each other more.

What you say is true. We noticed that the team Canada trade mission went to as many as 11 countries in the Indo-Pacific, but Taiwan was not included. However, I will just say that Taiwan is the sixth-largest trading partner of Canada in Asia, and that figure has picked up so much. As I said, in terms of the trade volume between us, it's very small—it's a difference of $1.2 trillion U.S. to $1.1 trillion U.S., so it's not much—and there are, really, opportunities between us to explore.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Would you encourage this committee to visit Taiwan on a trade mission?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Oh, yes.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Mr. Mantle.

For the committee's information, I will be leading a delegation to Taiwan in October with parliamentarians from both sides of the aisle. In case you thought we weren't going, we are, and we look forward to it.

Mr. Fonseca, go ahead for six minutes, please.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm going to pick up on what MP Mantle was talking about—how we could do more trade, and our answer to that.

Representative Tseng, welcome.

Mr. Chen, welcome.

Mr. Liu, welcome. I've known you for many years, and I thank you for your co-operation in increasing trade between Taiwan and Canada.

You mentioned that Canada does only 0.5% of our trade with Taiwan. You may also know we have a very ambitious agenda. The Canadian government wants to double our trade outside the United States over the next 10 years and is looking to increase foreign direct investment by $1 trillion over the next five years.

I had the opportunity, Representative Tseng, to visit Bora Pharmaceuticals in Mississauga with you. That was an investment by a Taiwanese company in Mississauga. I represent a riding in Mississauga. I saw, first-hand, the value of that Taiwanese investment. I saw examples of how you help in terms of our resilience, our health care system and diversifying supply chains, as well as the critical sectors involved, in that tour we had of Bora Pharmaceuticals.

What can we do to bring more Taiwanese companies and investment to Canada? What do you recommend to this committee? How did it happen with Bora Pharmaceuticals, and how can we replicate that?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Thank you very much, MP Fonseca.

The answer to this question is connected to the previous question about trade missions. Sending team Canada trade missions to Taiwan is a very effective way to promote trade between our two economies.

Other than that, you have many tools that you can apply, as we do in Taiwan. I am referring to Canadian Crown corporations like Export Development Canada and the Canadian Commercial Corporation. They are somewhat like our TAITRA, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council. TAITRA has an office in Vancouver as well as Toronto. There are people carrying out our very proactive agenda here in Canada. I don't know how many members here have a good grasp of the tools we can use.

There's one thing that's also very important between us. Some people consider it to be only symbolism, but I don't agree with that. The visit of high-level officials to Taiwan will always bring about a very positive result. The most recent ministerial visit to Taiwan was carried out by Mr. John Manley in 1998. That was too long ago. If you want trade to happen between us, you really need to break that kind of practice.

There are many things that can happen, but you need political will to make it happen. That is what I have in mind.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

I had the opportunity, Representative Tseng, to visit Taiwan and many of your industrial sectors. We were brought out to many companies. We saw how innovative that ecosystem is within Taiwan.

We want to see how Canadian strengths, skilled talent, clean energy, critical minerals and world-class agri-food production can complement Taiwan, and how we can work together to increase that trade and make our supply chains that much more resilient.

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

What you are saying coincided with what I said when I said that Canadian strength lies in the upstream part of the supply chain. That includes clean energy and critical minerals, and you have very strong AI research and top talent. When I say our strength in Taiwan lies in the middle to downstream sectors, I mean that we are very strong in precision manufacturing. We manufacture the most advanced chips in the world. We take up more than 90% of the chip market in the world. We play a very important role in the AI infrastructure buildup. AI data centres are one part of that. You need a large Taiwanese contribution to make an AI data centre begin operation.

There is a complementarity between us, as a matter of fact. Any country that is keen on developing its AI-related industry needs to work with Taiwan. We are actually reaching out to so many countries. Unfortunately, I don't see.... We need closer co-operation in that regard between Canada and Taiwan. Some of you may not know that TSMC actually has a company here in Ottawa, in Kanata, a design team. TSMC is not strong in terms of design. They are strong in manufacturing and packaging, but they have a design team in Kanata.

We need to explore more those strengths between us that are not explored yet.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We'll go on to Monsieur Savard-Tremblay for six minutes, please.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here.

The issue of Taiwan was at the heart of discussions between President Trump and President Xi Jinping two weeks ago.

What would be your assessment of that visit?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

What do I think about the visit of Mr. Trump to China? That's a very big question.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

It also concerns the importance that was given to Taiwan in the talks, because it was at the heart of the topics of discussion, as we know.