TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — US House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that the US will have completed NT$1.27 trillion (US$40 billion) in arms sales to Taiwan over President Donald Trump’s two terms.
Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox Business when asked whether Trump was using a pending NT$445 billion arms package as leverage in trade negotiations with China after his Sept. 24 meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House. Trump said after the summit that the two leaders “did not spend a lot of time talking about Taiwan.”
Johnson cautioned against reading too much into the delay, attributing it to the Iran war and US demand for missile packages and other military equipment for the Middle East. “I don't think anybody can question the US resolve," he said.
Johnson described Taiwan as an important US partner, friend, and ally that needed to remain “stable and independent.” He said Taiwan’s stability and independence were important to US national security, the economy, and other interests, and affirmed that Washington’s support for Taipei would continue.
A senior US official told CNA ahead of the Trump-Xi summit that Trump would make a decision on a new arms sale to Taiwan in the near future. Trump approved a NT$353 billion arms package in December, which the official described as the largest single US arms sale to Taiwan on record.
According to US-Taiwan Business Council data, US arms sales to Taiwan totaled NT$277 billion under President Bill Clinton, NT$496 billion under President George W. Bush, and NT$445 billion under President Barack Obama. The first Trump administration approved NT$582 billion in arms sales, compared with NT$267 billion under President Joe Biden, while sales under Trump’s second administration have totaled NT$363 billion to date.
