By: Tim Daiss
Taiwan has a choice to make, either to continue relying on liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help drive its growing economy, or to pivot back to a nearly phased out nuclear energy sector. Unfortunately for Taiwan, US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff threats against the island have complicated that decision.
In an effort to thwart tariffs, the government expressed interest in buying more supply from US LNG producers, likely from the proposed Alaska LNG project. But at the end of the day it could do more damage than good.
Lurking behind Trump’s tariff threats could be something more. As Asia Sentinel reported on February 27, the president is jealously eyeing Taiwan’s chip making sector - and with good reason. The country, mostly due to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC), the world’s largest chip maker, which manufacturers around 90 percent of the world’s advanced chips. Even worse, if Taiwan ever fell to mainland China, the communist-led country would then control most of the world’s chips – a scenario that’s hard to imagine. As such, a pivot away from TSMC’s dominance to more US-produced chips could be a step in the right direction…