Trump's remarks about Taiwan no cause for alarm: Minister

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) Former U.S. President Donald Trump's comments criticizing Taiwan for taking "all of [the U.S.] chip business" and not spending enough on defense are no cause for alarm, Minister of Economic Affairs Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) has said.

Trump, the Republican nominee in this year's presidential election, said in an interview last week that Taiwan "took all of [the U.S.] chip business" and should pay the U.S. for defense.

However, Kuo told CNA in an interview on Monday that Trump's remarks are "not anti-Taiwan."

"Trump is a businessman that weighs things in terms of cost," for him, the U.S. as the world's police providing service to other countries cannot bear the cost all by itself, said Kuo, who served as chairman of semiconductor raw material and equipment supplier Topco Group before becoming economics minister.

Concerning Trump's accusation that Taiwan had snatched all the chip business from the U.S., Kuo said Trump probably has been misled.

"My personal view is that this has to do with our insufficient effort in lobbying in Washington D.C. [by Taiwan's government and Taiwanese companies]," the minister said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), GlobalWafers Co., the world's third-largest silicon wafer supplier, Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), and Mediatek have their lobbyists.

Still, along with the ministry's personnel, Taiwan's government and the country's firms have less than ten people lobbying in the U.S. capital, Kuo said.

There is a high possibility that if Trump is elected, with his ambition of "making America great again" and bringing manufacturing back to America, tariffs are to be raised on foreign products, the minister said.

Kuo said his policy of bringing Taiwanese supply chain companies along with TSMC to the United States could counter the impact.

"By manufacturing locally [in the U.S.] we could also increase your gross domestic product (GDP)," he added.

TSMC is building three fabs in Arizona. According to the company's announcement in April, the first fab is on track to begin production leveraging 4nm technology in the first half of 2025.

It also announced then that the second fab will use the world's most advanced 2nm process technology and 3nm technology, with production beginning in 2028, and the third fab will produce chips using 2nm or more advanced processes, with production beginning by the end of the decade.

According to the minister, the new administration has been pushing for the policy of setting up overseas units to facilitate the localization of Taiwanese companies, small and medium enterprises, in particular, when they move abroad.

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