TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said an energy deal with Taiwan and other Asian countries could be an alternative way forward in trade negotiations.

In a CNBC interview on Monday, Bessent said “everything’s on the table” for trade negotiations. “For instance, there’s talk of a big energy deal in Alaska, where the Japanese, and perhaps the Koreans or the Taiwanese, would take a large share of the output and provide financing for the deal.”

Taiwanese officials previously identified US natural gas imports as a way to reduce the trade deficit, and Taiwan’s state-run energy supplier signed a letter of intent to buy liquefied natural gas from Alaska in March. Economics Minister Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) first mentioned the idea after Japan signed a deal with the US in February for more natural gas imports to reduce its trade deficit.

Bessent said an energy deal would reduce trade deficits and create US jobs. He also said countries could negotiate on other issues. 

“Tariffs, non-tariff barriers, currency manipulation, and then subsidies, to both labor and industry, everything is on the table,” he said. He added that China’s retaliatory tariffs were a mistake, and praised countries that have not responded with their own tariffs on US goods. 

President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said on Monday that Taiwan has no plans to retaliate against the tariffs. Instead, he outlined response measures that include lowering import tariffs, reducing the Taiwan-US trade deficit, addressing non-tariff barriers, and responding to US concerns about dumping.

Bessent said some tariffs may remain after trade negotiations. "President Trump has maximum negotiating leverage right here, right now, and I think it would be a mistake for anyone to think otherwise,” he said.

The US announced a 32% tariff on most Taiwanese imports in early April alongside others imposed globally. The Cabinet allocated NT$88 billion (US$2.66 billion) to assist industries, and on Tuesday, the government released emergency funds to stabilize the stock market after significant sell-offs.

Taiwan had an 83% trade surplus with the US last year, mainly because of advanced semiconductor exports, which accounted for US$111.4 billion of the total surplus. Taiwan also appeared on the US Treasury’s “monitoring list” for currency manipulation and macroeconomic policy for the sixth year in 2024.