Harassment of Taiwan an ominous clue to Trump 2.0 foreign policy

US President Donald Trump’s threat to levy tariffs against imported semiconductors creates additional stress for Taiwan, which is already menaced by increasing military pressure from the People’s Republic of China.

Trump’s threat also indicates the ascendancy within the White House, at least for now, of American unilateralism over the alternative of attempting to build a collective security bulwark against China.

On January 27, Trump said that “in the very near future” the US government would impose tariffs on foreign-produced semiconductors, explaining that the objective is to “return the production of these essential goods to the United States.” He then specifically mentioned that chip-makers “left us and they went to Taiwan.”

Trump said he wants foreign chip makers to build their factories in the US. He pledged to accomplish this through tariffs, which he said might be “25, 50, or 100%.” As a basis for comparison, in recent years the average US tariff rate has been around 2%.

This is a demoralizing development for Taiwan, which has already suffered the indignity of Trump unfairly and inaccurately saying on other occasions that Taiwan “stole” America’s semiconductor manufacturing business.

Taiwan’s premier chip maker TSMC agreed during the first Trump Administration to build semiconductor factory facilities in Arizona in support of Washington’s desire to reorient global supply chains away from China.

This despite the argument that offshoring chip production might make Taiwan more vulnerable to attack from China, because Chinese economic dependence on Taiwan-made chips is a disincentive against Beijing starting a war that would disrupt the chip supply.

The first of those Arizona fabs is now in operation, with another