AIT chairman Raymond F. Burghardt gave a talk in Taipei today. During which, he mentioned that Washington is set to resume negotiations on economic issues under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. But he didn't talk about the specific timeline. But from what we know, the US has already come up with a list of topics to discuss, which include issues such as enforcement of intellectual property rights and agricultural trade.

On his 9th visit to Taiwan, AIT chairman Raymond Burghardt talked to members of American Chamber of Commerce on the prospect of economic ties between the United States and Taiwan. Since the ECFA has been signed, countries across the world are more willing to invest in Taiwan and the United States is of no exception.

According to Burghardt, although there are some disputes regarding to the imports of U.S. beef products, the issue cannot outshadow the fact that Taiwan and the United States have been good trade partners.

Therefore, Washington is now set to resume negotiations of the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, which is hoped to protect fair treatments of trade relations.

After a three-year hiatus, the US has a tentative plan to include issues of agricultural trade, product standards, enforcement of intellectual property rights and others, even though that some topics may not be accepted by the ROC government.

The two sides are working to finalize mutually agreeable dates for the meeting and are targeting late 2010 or early 2011.