Exploring Solutions for the Trade Barriers in Taiwan

Due to the recent global economic depression, especially the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2008 and the European sovereign debt default in 2016, Taiwan’s economy was threatened. Exports and imports were declined after the worldwide economic fluctuations, the trade in Taiwan was weakened. In this paper, we attempt to determine the cause of threats to trade and the main trade barrier in Taiwan. We examine several possible solutions for trade barriers in Taiwan via the Delphi technique and the Analytic Hierarchy Process, synthesizing judgements from experts. We aimed at exploring solutions for the trade barriers in Taiwan. We concluded that there are three main elements to eliminate trade barriers and increase the development and competitiveness of products in Taiwan, which we label separately, “The Solution Mechanism for Disputes with the WTO,†“Bilateral trade negotiations,†and “Market commodity development.†The empirical results point out that lessening trade obligations through bilateral consultancy is the predominant main criteria, and producing products that meet national inspection standards and negotiating unreasonable trade requirements between countries through the WTO are important sub-criteria. Most notably, bilateral trade negotiations and negotiating unreasonable trade requirements between countries through the WTO correspond with trade policies implemented by many countries. JEL classification numbers: C02, F13, F14, F15.