ByTsvetana Paraskova– Apr 05, 2025, 6:00 PM CDT

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Taiwan was slapped with a 32% tariff, which the government described as “highly unreasonable”, “unfair”, and “deeply regrettable.”

Taiwan had just made some big commitments to invest in the U.S. and in U.S. energy projects.

Last month, Taiwan’s state-held oil and gas company CPC Corporation signed a letter of intent to invest in the $44-billion Alaska LNG export project and buy LNG from it as part of a move to bolster its gas supply and energy security.

Taiwan is so far the only Asian country to have committed investments and backing to the Alaska LNG project despite the state of Alaska and the Trump Administration’s weeks-long courting of investors from north Asia, such as Japan and South Korea.

Taiwan’s semiconductor maker TSMC also announced in March its intention to expand its investment in advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the United States by an additional $100 billion. Building on the company’s ongoing $65 billion investment in its advanced semiconductor manufacturing operations in Phoenix, Arizona, TSMC’s total investment in the U.S. is expected to reach $165 billion. The expansion includes plans for three new fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a major R&D team center, solidifying this project as the largest single foreign direct investment in U.S. history.

TSMC’s major customers include Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, Broadcom, and Qualcomm.

Ironically, also thanks to its semiconductor exports to the U.S., Taiwan has a large trade surplus with the United States. This means a large trade deficit for America, which President Trump doesn’t want to see anymore. Hence, the tariffs.

Taiwan got one of the highest tariffs, at 32%. Notably, semiconductors are exempted from all U.S. tariffs on imports from any country.

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