TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan is interested in natural gas from Alaska and will continue to assess the feasibility of purchases, the economy ministry said on Monday, as the government looks to narrow the trade surplus with the United States and head off tariffs.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on many economies by this week, a major escalation of his offensive to reshape global trade relationships in ways he considers to be in America’s favour.
Taiwan runs a large trade surplus with the United States, which surged 83% last year, with the island’s exports to the U.S. hitting a record $111.4 billion, driven by demand for high-tech products such as semiconductors.
Taiwan’s economy ministry said in a statement that the state-run energy company CPC is “indeed quite interested in Alaska’s natural gas and will continue to assess the feasibility and is also willing to make additional purchases”.
The ministry did not elaborate, though it noted the “short shipping distance” from Alaska. CPC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Most of Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) comes from Australia and Qatar, with U.S. imports making up around 10% of supplies.
Taiwan’s official Central News Agency said late on Sunday that CPC is in talks with an unnamed Alaskan company “in the hope of reducing the trade surplus with the U.S.”.
In 2021, CPC began receiving LNG cargoes from Cheniere Energy under a 25-year deal signed with the U.S. company in 2018 shortly before then-Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited the United States.
The ministry, giving details on previously announced plans to send officials to Washington to discuss tariffs, said the delegation would be led by Deputy Economy Minister Cynthia Kiang and Chen Pei-li, deputy director general of the ministry’s Industrial Development Administration.
Taiwan Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei said on Saturday that Taiwan could follow Japan’s example and import more U.S. energy.
Japan will soon begin importing a record amount of U.S. LNG, Trump said on Friday after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
