Taiwan President Lai Ching-te says his government will encourage Taiwanese companies to invest more in the U.S., following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a reciprocal tariff plan to settle trade imbalances with other countries. Taiwan's trade surplus with the U.S. grew over 80% percent last year to a record high. Trump has also continued to accuse Taiwan of "taking" America's chips business, pledging to wage separate tariffs on imported chips.
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00:00U.S. President Donald Trump is doubling down on his pledge to resolve what he calls unfair
00:06trade practices with foreign countries, announcing a closely watched plan for reciprocal tariffs,
00:13a price match on what other countries are charging American goods.
00:17It's a move that could add to inflation and hurt U.S. customers, while also sparking a
00:23multi-front trade war with allies and partners, including Taiwan.
00:28Trump has been eyeing Taiwan's unmatched dominance in computer chips, led by TSMC.
00:35He's repeatedly accused Taiwan of stealing the critical tech from the U.S. and could
00:40slap separate tariffs on imported chips.
00:44Taiwan took our chip business away.
00:46We had Intel, we had these great companies that did so well, and it was taken from us
00:53and we want that business back.
00:54We want it back in the United States.
00:57If they don't bring it back, we're not going to be very happy.
01:00Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has convened senior officials to discuss Trump's latest
01:05comments, but has maintained that as the world's most powerful semiconductor country, Taiwan
01:11has the ability and willingness to communicate with its partners.
01:27Despite not having diplomatic ties, the U.S. is Taiwan's main arms supplier, a critical
01:42relationship for Taiwan's national security against the Chinese threat of invasion.
01:49Taipei has already sent officials to Washington, including Deputy Economy Minister Cynthia
01:54Jiang, to, quote, clarify that Taiwan did not steal American chip business, which may
02:01not be enough for Trump.
02:03I suspect that that's off-theater.
02:04I suspect that's off-theater and not real, because there are only two people that are
02:10running the show right now.
02:12It's really the president and Peter Navarro.
02:15And I'm really, really skeptical that the two deputy ministers are going to be able
02:20to talk to either of them.
02:23I have this nagging, uneasy feeling that Taiwan is not taking this seriously.
02:27And they're thinking about it as really public relations and not like a real threat.
02:33Something Taiwan could do is address its trade surplus with the U.S., which jumped over 80
02:39percent last year, selling more goods to the U.S. than it bought by almost $65 billion.
02:46It's a gap that's also landed Taiwan on Trump's radar as he looks to rebalance U.S. trade.
02:53One way Taipei can do this is by letting the value of its currency appreciate, making it
02:59cheaper for Taiwan to import more from the rest of the world.
03:03It also makes its exports more expensive, which eventually brings trade back into balance.
03:10But that goes against decades of central bank policy to keep the exchange rate low.
03:16The central bank is generating money by having a low exchange rate.
03:23Central bank is very closed.
03:24And economists in Taiwan, we have talked about this for a long time.
03:29It's actually protected.
03:31It's protected by the government.
03:32It has to be like from the legislative point of view that there should be a new law to
03:38grant more independence.
03:41In the face of Trump's aggressive economic policy to settle its trade gaps with other
03:45countries, Taiwan may have to look inward and change some of its ways to maintain its
03:52critical relationship with the U.S.
03:55Ryan Wu and Joyce Sun for Taiwan Plus.