Karishma Vaswani, Columnist

Trump’s Recklessness on Taiwan Is a Mistake

May 18, 2026 at 1:30 AM UTC

Karishma Vaswani is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia politics with a special focus on China. Previously, she was the BBC's lead Asia presenter and worked for the BBC across Asia and South Asia for two decades.

A red flag.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images

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Donald Trump could have done the wise thing and said nothing on Taiwan. He did everything but. The result is a terrible mess — for the US, its allies in the Indo-Pacific, and most importantly, for Taipei.

The damage was done in an interview recorded while the US leader was in Beijing for a summit with China’s President Xi Jinping last week and broadcast after Trump departed. In it, he described a long-delayed $14 billion arms package to Taiwan as a negotiating chip. “I’m holding that in abeyance and it depends on China,” he said, adding: “It’s a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly.”