Former US President Donald Trump, who is running for president again, said that Taiwan ought to foot the bill for defense because the nation “doesn’t give us anything.” In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that was published on Tuesday, he was asked if he would defend Taiwan against China. To which he replied with the following statement.
Reunification with the mainland is “a historical inevitability,” according to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who also views democratically ruled Taiwan as a part of Beijing’s territory. Comparing the United States to an insurance business, Trump said, “Taiwan should pay us for defense,” condemning Taiwan for not making a contribution.
The Republican Trump connected his remarks to one of the world’s most developed semiconductor industries Taiwan. Taiwan “did take about 100% of our chip business,” he noted. Taiwan Semiconductor production Co. (TSMC) and other Taiwanese companies rose to prominence as a result of the U.S., once a significant participant in semiconductor production, seeing companies shift away from building their own chips. TrendForce research indicates that this year, Taiwan is likely to produce 66% of the world’s most advanced chips, with the United States producing only 6%.
TSMC, the world’s largest and most advanced chipmaker, manufactures chips for major American firms like Apple and Nvidia. Following Trump’s comments, TSMC shares closed 2.4% lower in Taiwan. Concerns have been growing over the world’s reliance on Taiwan for chip manufacturing, especially considering the potential threat of a Chinese attack on the island. In 2022, TSMC Chair Mark Liu stated that an invasion would render TSMC’s factories “not operable.”
Under the Biden administration, the U.S. has sought to bring more chip manufacturing back to its shores through grants encouraging companies like TSMC and Samsung to expand their production facilities in the U.S. Trump criticized this approach, saying, “They took almost 100% of our chip industry, I give them credit. We should have never let that happen.” He added, “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.”