Trump cares less about Taiwan than Ukraine.
Taiwan, Ukraine, and Trump
Trump’s only concern about Ukraine is how to take its rare earth mineral wealth. Trump does not give a damn about Taiwan at all.
Please consider a Bloomberg Interview of Trump ahead of the election.
Look, a couple of things. No. 1, Taiwan. I know the people very well, respect them greatly. They did take about 100% of our chip business. I think, Taiwan should pay us for defense. You know, we’re no different than an insurance company. Taiwan doesn’t give us anything. Taiwan is 9,500 miles away. It’s 68 miles away from China. A slight advantage, and China’s a massive piece of land, they could just bombard it.
They took almost 100% of our chip industry, I give them credit. That’s because stupid people were running the country. We should have never let that happen. Now we’re giving them billions of dollars to build new chips in our country, and then they’re going to take that too, in other words, they’ll build it but then they’ll bring it back to their country.
Trump’s Ambassador to China
Please consider Opening Remarks SFRC Confirmation Hearing Ambassador Designate David Perdue, for ambassador to China.
As Ambassador, I will support the United States’ one China policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances. We remain committed to a peaceful resolution that is acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait.
A one-China policy means China will get Taiwan and all of its chip capabilities.
Trump does not at all see this as a strategic issue for the US.
Trump’s Tariffs Don’t Apply to Chips
The New York Times comments Trump’s Tariffs Don’t Apply to Chips, but Taiwan Remains Wary
Taiwan, the center of the global supply chain for computer chips, woke up on Thursday to the news that President Trump had put new 32 percent tariffs on the island’s exports to the United States. Except for semiconductors.
The decision not to impose tariffs on the chip sector does not mean they won’t be coming for Taiwan or anywhere else, including South Korea, another major source of chips.
Taiwanese companies have spent decades and billions of dollars building up a network of factories that conduct the complex process of etching tiny circuits onto pieces of silicon.
These chips — and a broad range of electronic devices that contain them — are Taiwan’s main exports. And they are increasingly the focal point of the Taiwanese-U.S. geopolitical relationship, which has undergone a markedly transactional shift since Mr. Trump took office.
Mr. Trump previously said Taiwan had gained an unfair dominance in making semiconductors and threatened to impose tariffs on the sector. He has also accused Taiwan, which depends on the United States for political support against China’s claims that Taiwan is part of its territory, of spending too little on its own security.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest chipmaker, said it would spend $100 billion in the United States to expand its operations in Arizona. TSMC announced plans for the plant during Mr. Trump’s first term and got a big financial assist under former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
On Wednesday, in announcing the tariffs on Taiwan, Mr. Trump praised TSMC for investing in the United States. He and his aides are hoping other chip companies that committed to invest in U.S. operations during the Biden administration, like the South Korean giants Samsung and SK Hynix and Global Wafers of Taiwan, will pledge to spend even more.
The Taiwanese government “thought too optimistically about the relationship with Trump,” said Jason Hsu, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and former member of Taiwan’s legislature for the opposition Nationalist Party. “It was a little bit too naïve thinking Trump would be nice to them, especially after the TSMC announcement.”
Advice to Taiwan
Since Trump won’t give a damn about Taiwan once the technology is here, Taiwan is best advised not to build a chip factory in the US.
One of the few things Biden did correctly was get Taiwan to build here. Biden did that by offering subsidies to Taiwan. Trump thinks Taiwan should pay the US to be here.
The problem for Taiwan is that in four years is J.D. Vance could be president with the same mindset.
Insurance Policy
“You know, we’re no different than an insurance company. Taiwan doesn’t give us anything,” says Trump.
That is how economic illiterates think.
Given illiterates are in charge, Taiwan needs to reconsider the deal to expand here because it’s turned into a trap. Trump will have no use for Taiwan if and when full scale production is here.
The US needs Taiwan’s chips. And that is why Trump made an exception to chips.
Taiwan should politely tell Trump to go to hell. That’s the only way Taiwan keeps its insurance policy against an invasion by China.