‘Stupid presidents let Taiwan steal our semiconductor factories’: Trump turns his guns on Taipei — again

In the latest salvo against Taiwan, US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused the self-ruled island of stealing American semiconductor industries.

In a tirade on Truth Social, Trump said that "stupid presidents" had allowed Taiwan to steal American semiconductor factories. He said they forgot to protect American industries with tariffs.

Repeating the falsehood that he won the 2020 election, Trump said: "When I won my second term (third actually!), it was clear America needed its semiconductor industry to come back to the USA We design everything, but we need to build it here now! So I decided to help Intel because we need to design and build our chips right here in America."

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Trump hailed the US government acquiring 10 per cent stakes in Intel and listed chips-related deals: Nvidia making chips with Intel, SpaceX boss Elon Musk building the world's largest chips factory in the world in the United States, and Apple designing and building chips in the United States with Intel.

Bringing back manufacturing to the United States has been a running theme of Trump's politics, but his record has been abysmal. In the first year of his second term, the American manufacturing sector lost around 98,000 jobs despite his rhetoric about boosting the sector.

In Taiwan, Trump has found a perfect target for his ire. While he appears to be attempting to satisfy his supporters by bashing Taiwan for "stealing" the American industry, he is also appeasing China by piling pressure on Taiwan — a territory that China wants to invade and occupy.

Photo: Truth Social/Donald Trump

Trump's tirade about semiconductors is the latest salvo in the campaign against Taiwan: He has stopped arms sales to the self-ruled island, scolded leaders like Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for supporting Taiwan, and withdrawn from the Indo-Pacific.

Last month, after Chinese leader Xi Jinping read him the riot act, Trump essentially dropped Taiwan from the American agenda.

Even as Trump has trashed Taiwan, he has refused to punish China, which has actually stolen American intellectual property, mounted frequent cyberattacks, and become the world's foremost manufacturing powerhouse by gaming the Western liberal order. In fact, in a sign that he has already admitted defeat, Trump has elevated Xi as his equal and formed 'G2' with him.