The Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) reiterated Friday that the recent beef trade dispute with the United States should not become a barrier to bilateral economic ties, and stressed that the U.S.'interests remain secure in the case. BOFT Director-General Huang Chih-peng argued that Taiwan's decision to ban imports of U.S. ground beef and bovine offal should not become an issue because the products account for only a very small share of the beef trade between the two countries. The U.S. largest interests lie in bone-in beef, which accounts for more than 90 percent of beef imports to Taiwan in terms of value and has now regained access to the Taiwan market, according to Huang. 'Taiwan has done its best to protect U.S. trade interests, ' he said. Huang was responding to a comment Thursday by United States Deputy Trade Representative Dementrios Marantis that Washington is studying all possible options to resolve the beef trade dispute with Taiwan, including seeking arbitration at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Huang urged Washington to take into account its maximal profit from the beef trade in its decision on whether to resort to the WTO dispute settlement process. He argued that the beef trade dispute is an 'isolated incident' that should not be allowed to delay the resumption of talks between the two sides under the trade and investment framework agreement (TIFA). According to BOFT officials, in the event of a WTO arbitration case, Taiwan would be required to provide scientific evidence to back up its decision to ban imports of U.S. ground beef and bovine offal, which would pose difficulty for Taiwan. 