This is a translation of the original article in Portuguese. Read the original (Português).
U.S. President Donald Trump has suspended approval of an arms package for Taiwan worth about US$14 billion, according to the Portuguese magazine Visão.
According to the publication, the package has come to be treated as a negotiating tool in Trump’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In other words, the sale of weapons to the island, which Beijing considers part of its territory, has reportedly been put on the table as a bargaining chip between the world’s two largest economies.
The U.S. government has not yet said whether the suspension is temporary or what conditions would lead to the release of the package.
The decision comes on the eve of a meeting between Trump and Xi, scheduled for next week, and amid a dispute between the two countries over semiconductors, the chips that power everything from cell phones and cars to military systems. Taiwan is central to this board: beyond being a sensitive point in the rivalry between Washington and Beijing, the island accounts for a significant share of global production of these components.
For Taipei, American arms sales are one of the pillars of its defense against Chinese pressure. Seeing that support put on hold while Washington negotiates directly with Beijing changes the security calculus of the island and its neighbors in Asia.
For China, the suspension represents a sign that security issues can be negotiated alongside trade. For the United States, the bet is to use the package as a trump card to win concessions in the talks with Xi.
The effects could extend beyond the region. Any change in the balance among Washington, Beijing and Taipei reverberates through global trade and the chip market, with consequences for electronics prices and investment decisions in several countries, including Brazil.
The move also reinforces a feature of Trump’s foreign policy: treating commitments to allies as part of broader negotiations, in which security and trade appear on the same table.
Reporting from Visão (Edição impressa, p. 50, seção Estados Unidos).
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