Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Fair in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
Former US President Donald Trump, who is running for another term in the White House, said he believes Taiwan should pay the United States for its defense, claiming the country “doesn't give us anything.”
His comment came in response to a question about whether he would defend Taiwan against China, as part of an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published Tuesday.
Beijing considers democratically-ruled Taiwan part of its territory, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has previously said reunification with the mainland is a “historic inevitability”.
“Taiwan should pay us for defense,” Trump said.
“As you know, we are no different from insurance companies. Taiwan does not offer us anything,” he added.
Trump appeared to link his comments to Taiwan's semiconductor industry, one of the most advanced in the world.
“Taiwan has taken over almost 100 percent of our chip business,” Trump said.
The United States was once a major player in semiconductor manufacturing, but changing trends in the industry, such as companies moving away from making their own chips, have led to a rise in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company(TSMC) and other major Taiwanese companies. Taiwan is expected to account for 66% of the world’s most advanced chip production this year, according to TrendForce data.
The United States is expected to account for 6% of manufacturing.
TSMC is the world's largest and most advanced chipmaker, responsible for manufacturing chips for major US companies such as apple And Nvidia.
TSMC shares closed down 2.4% in Taiwan after Trump's comments were published.
For several years, there has been growing concern about the world's reliance on Taiwan's chip manufacturing concentration, and what might happen in the event of a Chinese attack on the island.
TSMC CEO Mark Liu said in 2022 that if China invaded Taiwan, the company's factories would become “inoperable.”
“No one can take over TSMC by force. If military force or invasion is used, TSMC's factory will not be operational,” Liu said.
Under the Biden administration, the United States has sought to bring more chip manufacturing back to its shores through grants that entice companies like TSMC and Samsung to expand their production facilities.
“They took over almost 100 percent of our chip industry, and I applaud them,” Trump said. “We should never have let that happen.”
“Now we give them billions of dollars to build new chips in our country, and then they will take it too, in other words, they will build it but then they will bring it back to their country,” he added.
Correction: This story has been updated with the correct publication date of the interview in Bloomberg Businessweek.
