(NAFB) – Asia experts don’t expect any early Biden Administration trade deals with individual nations, and they cite one country as an example. ‘Not in the cards,’ says Scott Harold with the Rand Defense Research Group, of talks Taiwan has sought with the U.S. for decades.

With Taiwan less of a priority for the U.S. than the Comprehensive Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is the multi-lateral deal that eleven Pacific nations struck after former President Trump pulled the U.S. out of TPP.

All of that, despite having a new U.S. Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, with Taiwan roots.

And the importance of that alliance in pushing back against China’s coercion in the region. Still, talks with Taiwan, a significant U.S. ag trade partner, are further complicated by public opposition to U.S. pork treated with ractopamine, a meat-leanness additive.

Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party Mission Chief Mike Fonte fears the impact of a Taiwan referendum.

Despite the strong ties on other fronts, including a House panel advancing a bill to help Taiwan last week, a beacon in the fight against COVID, regain World Health Organization observer status blocked by China.