Taiwan has told Washington that its proposal to move 40% of the island’s semiconductor supply chain to the U.S. was “impossible,” the country’s top tariff trade negotiator said in an interview.
Speaking on a local television broadcast Sunday, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun said she had made it clear to Washington that the country’s semiconductor ecosystem, built up over decades, could not simply be relocated.
The comments push back against onshoring targets outlined by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a CNBC interview in January, shortly after the latest U.S.-Taiwan trade agreement. Lutnick said he wanted 40% of Taiwan’s entire chip supply chain to shift to the U.S. within President Donald Trump’s ongoing term.
Under the deal, the Taiwanese government promised $250 billion in direct investments by its tech companies, with an additional $250 billion in credit provided for them to expand their production capacity in the U.S. In return, Taiwanese companies were promised higher quotas for tariff-free exports of their chips to the U.S.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s leading contract chipmaker and producer of the most advanced semiconductors, has already been working to better align with U.S. policy interests.
