Taiwan will not agree to a deal with the United States for half of all semiconductor production to take place in the country, the island’s top tariff negotiator said on Wednesday after returning home.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told U.S. television network News Nation over the weekend that Washington’s pitch to Taiwan would be a 50-50 split in making chips, the vast majority of which are now made on the island.
Taiwan Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun, who is leading the tariff talks with Washington, told reporters upon getting back to the island that she had not discussed the 50-50 idea suggested by the U.S. during the talks.
It would be disastrous for the country both economically and strategically. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be much of a deterrent for this administration. If anything, that would seem to align with their existing policies.