When President Trump announced his first round of tariffs across most of the world in April, Taiwan looked like it was in a good bargaining position.

今年4月，当特朗普总统宣布对全球大部分地区征收第一轮关税时，台湾似乎处于有利的谈判地位。

The company at the heart of Taiwan’s economy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which makes the world’s most advanced computer chips for companies like Nvidia and Apple, had only weeks earlier said it would spend $100 billion to expand its operations in Arizona. As Mr. Trump ran down the list of new tariff rates, he singled out Taiwan to praise TSMC for the investment.

台湾经济的核心企业，为英伟达、苹果等公司生产全球最先进计算机芯片的台积电在几周前刚宣布，将投资1000亿美元扩大其在亚利桑那州的业务。特朗普在宣读新关税税率清单时特别提到台湾，赞扬了台积电的这一投资。

“One of the great companies of the world actually, they’re coming in from Taiwan and they’re going to build one of the biggest plants in the world, maybe the biggest, for that,” Mr. Trump said.

“这实际上是世界上最优秀的公司之一，他们来自台湾，将建造世界上最大的工厂之一，可能就是最大的，”特朗普说。

This week it emerged that TSMC’s investment may earn the company an exemption from 100 percent tariffs on semiconductors. But it has not been enough to help Taiwan’s leaders clinch a trade deal with Washington and shield their economy from Mr. Trump’s other punishing tariffs.

上周有消息称，台积电的投资可能使该公司获得半导体100%关税的豁免。但这还不足以帮助台湾领导人与华盛顿达成贸易协议，以保护其经济免受特朗普其他惩罚性关税的影响。

The 20 percent tariffs on Taiwan, which took effect on Thursday, add to the mounting political and economic pressure facing Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, who was elected in January 2024. He is facing an intensifying confrontation with opposition lawmakers able to effectively stymie his policies. And Taiwan’s currency has appreciated sharply this year against the U.S. dollar — a hindrance for an economy so heavily dependent on exports.

对台20%关税上周四生效，加剧了台湾总统赖清德面临的日益增长的政治和经济压力。2024年1月当选的赖清德正面临反对党议员的激烈对抗，这些议员能够有效阻挠他的政策。此外，台湾的货币今年对美元大幅升值——这对一个高度依赖出口的经济体来说是个麻烦。

Taiwan’s lead trade negotiators, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun and the chief trade representative, Yang Jen-ni, have gone to Washington four times since April. They have yet to reach a deal while neighboring Japan and South Korea have negotiated lower tariff rates than Taiwan, further weakening the competitiveness of the island’s exports.

自4月以来，台湾主要贸易谈判代表——行政院副院长郑丽君和经贸谈判办公室总谈判代表杨珍妮已四次前往华盛顿。但双方尚未达成协议，而邻国日本和韩国已谈判获得比台湾更低的关税税率，进一步削弱了台湾出口产品的竞争力。

Some Taiwanese business owners and observers think the Trump administration is looking for Taiwanese companies to commit to more investment in the United States, along the lines of the $550 billion pledged by Japan and the $350 billion from South Korea.

一些台湾企业家和观察人士认为，特朗普政府希望台湾企业承诺在美国进行更多投资，类似于日本承诺的5500亿美元和韩国的3500亿美元。

“Both Japan and Korea showed up in Washington with key industries alongside as their wingmen,” said Jason Hsu, a former Taiwanese lawmaker and technology investor who is now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

“日本和韩国都带着关键产业，作为盟友前往华盛顿，”前台湾立法委员、科技投资人、现哈德逊研究所高级研究员许毓仁说。

台湾总统赖清德在特朗普政府的要求下，取消了本月赴拉丁美洲访问期间在纽约和达拉斯停留的计划。

There has long been an impression in Taiwan that the government will “always give” when it comes to trade with the United States, said John Deng, a former minister of economic affairs and Taiwan’s chief trade representative during Mr. Trump’s first term in office.

前经济事务主管、特朗普第一任期内台湾经贸谈判办公室总谈判代表邓振中表示，长期以来，台湾有一种印象——在与美国的贸易中，政府会“一味让步”。

“The thinking has been that the U.S. is our largest market, our most important market,” Mr. Deng said.

“人们一直觉得，美国是我们最大的市场，也是最重要的市场，”邓振中说。

Mr. Lai has described the tariffs as temporary and said the two sides had not yet wrapped up talks.

赖清德称这些关税是暂时的，并表示双方尚未完成谈判。

“The United States is crucial to Taiwan’s economic and trade development, and that’s why Taiwan is actively negotiating with the United States, hoping to balance the trade deficit and create mutually beneficial and complementary outcomes,” Mr. Lai said at a news briefing on Aug. 1.

“美国对台湾的经贸发展当然是非常重要的，也是为什么台湾积极地跟美国谈判，希望能平衡台美贸易逆差，也能创造互利互补的原因，”赖清德在8月1日的新闻发布会上说。

Taiwan’s economy is driven by exports, and the United States is its biggest buyer. As a key node in the global semiconductor supply chain, Taiwan offers computer chips and electronic components that contain them as its main exports. But the island is also a major exporter of metal tools and stainless steel panels, and the world’s third-largest source of metal fasteners like screws and bolts. Most of them go to the United States.

台湾经济以出口为导向，美国是其最大买家。作为全球半导体供应链的关键节点，台湾的主要出口产品是计算机芯片及包含这些芯片的电子元件。但它也是金属工具和不锈钢板的主要出口地，还是全球第三大金属紧固件（如螺丝和螺栓）来源地。这些产品大多销往美国。

These manufacturers are the businesses bearing the brunt of the 20 percent tariffs on Taiwan. For months, many of them have also been contending with another series of Trump tariffs of 50 percent on steel and aluminum.

这些制造商是承受对台湾20%关税冲击的主要企业。几个月来，其中许多企业还一直在应对特朗普对钢铝征收的另一系列50%的关税。

“The biggest loser is the traditional manufacturing industry,” said CY Huang, president of FCC Partners, a Taiwanese investment bank.

“最大的输家是传统制造业，”台湾投资银行蓝筹亚洲有限公司总裁黄齐元说。

美国是台湾金属紧固件出口（如螺丝和螺栓）的最大买家。

The Taiwanese dollar’s appreciation this year has put an additional squeeze on these factory owners. Taiwanese officials have said they will continue to monitor the exchange rate.

今年台湾的新台币升值进一步挤压了这些工厂主的空间。台湾官员表示，他们将继续监控汇率。

The uncertainty has left some companies wondering how they will survive the next few months.

这种不确定性让一些公司开始担忧如何度过未来几个月。

One manager at a screw manufacturing company that has been in business for four decades said that over the past few months, most of his clients had either stopped orders or requested to delay them.

一家拥有40年历史的螺丝制造公司的经理表示，在过去几个月里，他的大多数客户要么中止订单，要么要求延迟订单。

This week, when Taiwan’s international trade agency hosted a session for business owners to ask questions of a lawyer from Washington about the tariffs, more than 3,000 people registered. Many questions were from exporters concerned that they had not filled out their paperwork correctly.

上周，台湾国际贸易机构为企业主举办了一场会议，邀请华盛顿的律师解答有关关税的问题，有3000多人登记参加。许多问题来自出口商，他们担心自己的文件填写不正确。

“Adjusting to this situation is challenging,” the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry, an industry group, said in a statement this month. “We hope to return the exchange rate to the level of early April to give businesses time to adjust and breathe.”

“要因应有困难度，”行业组织台湾机械工业同业公会本月在声明中说。“希望先回到4月初的汇率，让企业能有时间调整、喘息。”

“We urge the government to continue communicating and negotiating with the United States, hoping to lower Taiwan’s tariffs,” the statement said.

声明还称：“建请政府持续与美国沟通和协商，希望能降低对台关税。”