US-Taiwan trade negotiations are going to be difficult: not just because of the diplomatic restrictions on Washington-Taipei communications, but also because of the nature of the tariffs the Trump Administration is applying.
Moving forward, it will be important to keep an eye on several indicators— technological, political, economic, and security—in order to determine the cost and benefits of US-Taiwan engagement.
The announcement of DeepSeek has sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and Washington, intensifying the U.S.-China rivalry in the “compute power is national power” race for AI supremacy.
While Taiwan and India have both shown willingness to engage at deeper levels, particularly since 2020, the two countries still have important challenges to overcome.
Germany’s approach to the Indo-Pacific, as formulated in its 2020 Indo-Pacific Guidelines, is very compatible with Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy.
Trade will be a major issue between the United States and its largest trading partners, many of which have large trade deficits with the United States, including Taiwan.