TAIPEI: Taiwan is “quite interested” in natural gas from Alaska and will continue to assess the feasibility of purchases, the economy ministry said on Monday (Feb 10), as the government looks to narrow the trade surplus with the United States and head off tariffs.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on many economies by this week, a major escalation of his offensive to reshape global trade relationships in ways he considers to be in America’s favour.
Taiwan runs a large trade surplus with the United States, which surged 83 per cent last year, with the island’s exports to the US hitting a record US$111.4 billion, driven by demand for high-tech products such as semiconductors.
Taiwan’s economy ministry said in a statement that the state-run energy company CPC is “indeed quite interested in Alaska’s natural gas and will continue to assess the feasibility and is also willing to make additional purchases”.
It did not elaborate and CPC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
