Taiwan will invest more in the United States following President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose tariffs on countries, President Lai Ching-te suggested.
“On trade, I have decided on, for the purpose of fairness, that I will charge a reciprocal tariff,” Trump said upon signing the memo. “Meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them, no more, no less. In other words, they charge us a tax on tariffs, and we charge them the exact same tax. Very simple. Nobody knows what that number is … You go to the individual country and you look at what they’re charging us. In almost all cases, they’re charging us vastly more than we charge them. Those days are over.”
Regarding U.S.-Taiwan relations, Trump said, “Taiwan took our chip business away.”
“We want that business back. We want it back in the United States. And if they don’t bring it back, we’re not going to be very happy,” he stated.
Lai said he was aware of Trump’s concerns with trade, acknowledging Taiwan’s dominance in the chipmaking industry, the Associated Press reports.
Lai further announced an initiative on semiconductors. “The global semiconductor industry is an ecosystem, and it’s a division of work,” Lai said, adding, “In response to President Trump’s latest actions, Taiwan needs to respond calmly, and communicate well with the industries.”
“We hope to create a win-win scenario, not just to ensure benefit to the U.S. but also to ensure that Taiwan‘s industries has room for growth,” he noted, going on to suggest a “global semiconductor democratic supply chain partnership initiative.”
