Legal and Policy Perspectives on United States Trade Initiatives and Economic Liberalization in the Republic of China

This article examines the legal and policy perspectives of U.S. trade initiatives toward the ROC in the last decade and their impact on economic liberalization in Taiwan. Part I sets forth the basic legal, policy and structural framework of this bilateral trade relationship. Part II is a sectoral retrospect of the major bilateral trade issues dealt with in the last decade. Part III presents an analysis of the' recent efforts of the ROC to liberalize its trading system and economy, the primary issues and prospects of such liberalization, and their causal relations with American trade initiatives toward Taiwan.

Part IV concludes with the author's cautious optimism for prosperous U.S.-ROC trade relations in the next decade.