US Keeps Taiwan on Currency Manipulation Monitoring List Amid Large Trade Surplus

The US Department of the Treasury has included Taiwan on its list of countries to monitor for possible currency manipulation in its semi-annual report, citing concerns over Taiwan's large trade surplus with the US and current account surplus. The report, which is part of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, monitors the macroeconomic policies and foreign exchange practices of major trading partners, including Taiwan.

Taiwan has a significant trade surplus with the US, amounting to almost $145 billion last year, up from $73 billion in 2024. The country's current account surplus also grew to 19.6 percent of GDP, driven primarily by strong global demand for technology products. However, Taiwan fell short of meeting the criteria for currency manipulation as it only reported net purchases of foreign exchange worth about 0.8 percent of its GDP.

The Treasury report noted that Taiwan's central bank intervened in the foreign exchange market to ease the rapid appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, but also engaged in smaller net sales of the greenback in some months to reduce upward pressure on the US unit. The inclusion of Taiwan on the monitoring list suggests that the country's currency practices and macroeconomic policies merit close attention, according to the Treasury.