Taiwan buys Alaskan Natural Gas to avoid US Tariffs

The economy ministry announced on Monday that Taiwan was "quite interested in" natural gas from Alaska, and would continue to evaluate the feasibility of purchasing it. This is as the government tries to reduce the trade surplus and avoid tariffs with the United States.

Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said on Friday that he planned to announce reciprocal duties on many countries by this week. This is a major step in his offensive to reshape international trade relationships to ways he believes are in America's favor.

Taiwan has a large surplus in trade with the United States. The island's exports reached a record of $111.4 billion last year. This was largely due to demand for high-tech items such as semiconductors.

Taiwan's Economy Ministry said in a press release that the state-run CPC energy company is "in fact quite interested in Alaskan natural gas. It will continue to evaluate the feasibility and also be willing to make further purchases."

CPC didn't immediately reply to the request for comment.

Taiwan's Central News Agency reported late Sunday that CPC was in discussions with an Alaskan firm "in hopes of reducing the U.S. trade surplus."

The majority of Taiwan's gas imports comes from Australia, Qatar and the United States.

CPC will begin receiving LNG cargos in 2021 from Cheniere Energy, under a deal for 25 years signed with the U.S. firm in 2018, shortly before the then-Taiwanese President Tsai ing-wen visited America.

Taiwan's Economy Minister Kuo Jyh Huei stated on Saturday that Taiwan can follow Japan and import more U.S. Energy.

After talks with Japanese Premier Shigeru Shiba, Trump announced on Friday that Japan would soon import a record amount liquefied gas from the United States. (Reporting and editing by Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing and Ben Blanchard)

(source: Reuters)