Moments after the attempt to assassinate former US president Donald Trump at an election campaign rally on Saturday, he stood up and raised his clenched fist to send his supporters a message of defiance — a gesture that would surely appeal to Americans’ worship of heroism. Combined with US President Joe Biden’s frequent slips of the tongue, this event seemingly puts Trump very close to his goal of a second term in the White House.
Trump, who comes from a business background, failed to get re-elected in the previous presidential election, but if he is voted in for a second term this year, he would seek to implement his election slogan of “Make America Great Again.” As he did last time, he would probably use tariffs as his preferred tool for revitalizing the US economy, and if so, China is likely to be the prime target.
Taiwan has long depended on China, the so-called “world’s factory.” However, from the COVID-19 pandemic and US inflation to the chip war, Taiwanese entrepreneurs in China have suffered the pain of US-China rivalry. The current momentum is rolling toward a second Trump presidency. If he is elected and again takes aim at China, it could lead to a second round of US inflation. Taiwanese businesses operating in China should prepare in advance by moving to other regions, such as Southeast Asia, India or Mexico to avoid getting caught up in the storm.
Apart from the US, the EU is quite upset about China’s “cheap” electric vehicle exports. Major Chinese automakers are being forced to avoid high tariff penalties by moving their production to Europe. China’s role as “the world’s factory” is clearly now on shaky ground, and a worldwide trade war could easily break out.
With these trends in mind, hardworking Taiwanese businesspeople in China must keep an eye on the climate and make sure they are well-prepared for the mercurial Trump’s highly unpredictable moves.
Fang Fu-chuan is an international trader.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS