President Donald Trump speaks throughout an handle to the nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room on the White Home, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Washington.
Doug Mills/Pool The New York Instances/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Doug Mills/Pool The New York Instances/AP
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has introduced an enormous package deal of arms gross sales to Taiwan valued at greater than $10 billion that features medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, a transfer that’s positive to infuriate China.
The State Division introduced the gross sales late Wednesday throughout a nationally televised handle by President Donald Trump, who made scant point out of overseas coverage points and didn’t discuss China or Taiwan in any respect. U.S.-Chinese language tensions have ebbed and flowed throughout Trump’s second time period, largely over commerce and tariffs but additionally over China’s rising aggressiveness towards Taiwan, which Beijing has mentioned should reunify with the mainland.
The eight arms gross sales agreements introduced Wednesday cowl 82 high-mobility artillery rocket programs, or HIMARS, and 420 Military Tactical Missile Methods, or ATACMS — just like what the U.S. had been offering Ukraine through the Biden administration to defend itself from Russia — value greater than $4 billion. Additionally they embrace 60 self-propelled howitzer programs and associated gear value greater than $4 billion and drones valued at greater than $1 billion.
Different gross sales within the package deal embrace army software program valued at greater than $1 billion, Javelin and TOW missiles value greater than $700 million, helicopter spare elements value $96 million and refurbishment kits for Harpoon missiles value $91 million.
In separate however almost similar statements, the State Division mentioned the gross sales serve “U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability.”
“The proposed sale(s) will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region,” the statements mentioned.
Beneath federal regulation, the U.S. is obligated to help Taiwan with its self-defense, a degree that has turn into more and more contentious with China, which has vowed to take Taiwan by pressure, if essential.
Taiwan’s Protection Ministry in a press release Thursday expressed gratitude to the U.S. over the arms sale, which it mentioned would assist Taiwan preserve “sufficient self-defense capabilities” and produce sturdy deterrent capabilities. Taiwan’s bolstering of its protection “is the foundation for maintaining regional peace and stability,” the ministry mentioned.
Taiwan’s International Minister Lin Chia-lung equally thanked the U.S. for its “long-term support for regional security and Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities,” which he mentioned are key for deterring a battle within the Taiwan Strait, the physique of water separating Taiwan from China’s mainland.
The arms gross sales comes as Taiwan’s authorities has pledged to boost protection spending to three.3% of the island’s gross home product subsequent yr and to succeed in 5% by 2030. The increase got here after Trump and the Pentagon requested that Taiwan spend as a lot as 10% of its GDP on its protection, a proportion effectively above what the U.S. or any of its main allies spend on protection. The demand has confronted pushback from Taiwan’s opposition KMT get together and a few of its inhabitants.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te final month introduced a particular $40 billion funds for arms purchases, together with to construct an air protection system with high-level detection and interception capabilities referred to as Taiwan Dome. The funds will probably be allotted over eight years, from 2026 to 2033.
The U.S. increase in army help to Taiwan was previewed in laws adopted by Congress that Trump is anticipated to signal shortly.
Final week, the Chinese language embassy in Washington denounced the laws, referred to as the Nationwide Protection Authorization Act, saying it unfairly focused China as an aggressor.
“The bill has kept playing up the ‘China threat’ narrative, trumpeting for military support to Taiwan, abusing state power to go after Chinese economic development, limiting trade, economic and people-to-people exchanges between China and the U.S., undermining China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and disrupting efforts of the two sides in stabilizing bilateral relations,” Beijing’s embassy in Washington mentioned after the laws handed the Home.
“China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this,” it mentioned.
The U.S. Senate handed the invoice Wednesday.
