Trump Weighs Whether to Let Taiwan Leader Transit Through US

The Trump administration is debating whether to allow a planned US stopover by Taiwan’s leader next week as concerns mount that it could derail trade talks with China and a potential summit with President Xi Jinping, according to people familiar with the matter.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te was planning to stop in New York on Aug. 4 and then Dallas 10 days later as part of a trip to diplomatic allies Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. Planning for the trip was thrown into flux late last week when Taiwanese officials couldn’t get their US counterparts to give the green light, the people said.