U.S. President Donald Trump said Taiwan has agreed to buy 30% of the gas from the Alaska liquefied natural gas pipeline project over the next 20 years.
Trump made the remarks at a midterm campaign rally for Sen. Dan Sullivan, the incumbent Republican from Alaska, according to Bloomberg on the 13th. Trump said Taiwan had also agreed to invest an additional $4.4 billion (about 5.9 trillion won) to complete the project, adding that the arrangement guarantees the project's success.
Taiwan did not immediately respond to Trump's claim. Some observers say Trump, who is highlighting progress on the Alaska LNG project ahead of the midterm elections, is now applying indirect pressure on Taiwan after doing the same with South Korea.
On Sept. 30, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the United States and South Korea had agreed to begin cooperating on the $50 billion Alaska LNG project, treating Korean investment in Alaska as a settled matter. The South Korean government, by contrast, says a review of the commercial viability of the Alaska LNG development has only just begun and that no investment decision has been made.
The Trump administration has used a strategy of citing one country's planned U.S. investment to pressure the other, alternating between South Korea and Taiwan. Early last month, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC that Taiwan had agreed to shift 40% of its semiconductor production to the United States and was following through on that commitment, and that Taiwan was expected to announce an additional $20 billion to $30 billion in investment. Analysts said those remarks were aimed at pressuring South Korea to invest.
In Taiwan, TSMC has raised its commitment for advanced chipmaking and packaging facilities in Arizona, pledging an additional $100 billion on top of its earlier $65 billion. Additional U.S. investment plans by Taiwanese companies other than TSMC total about $20 billion.