Kempthorne, in Taipei on the first day of a two-week trade mission to Southeast Asia, told President Lee that Idaho values its friendship with the island nation and respects Taiwan's love of freedom and democracy. Taiwan is Idaho's sixth largest international trading partner. The decision whether to impose the tax needs approval from Taiwan's cabinet. We know your government is fair and not interested in being retaliatory.
Competition is healthy in an atmosphere of fair trade.
We want to build upon the foundation of friendship and commerce between our people. The Ministry of Finance's decision was made just after a United States Senate committee held a hearing on memory chip dumping, and would be the first time Taiwan has levied an anti-dumping tax on a U.S. chip maker. President Lee said Taiwan believes in fair trade and has a fair trade committee which is looking into the issue. I emphasized to the President how important Micron Technology is to Idaho's economy, and what a good trading partner Taiwan is with Idaho. We will have to see how the cabinet rules.