ANCHORAGE: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Taiwan has agreed to buy 30% of the gas from a proposed liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, though the terms of the deal were not immediately clear.
“Taiwan has just agreed to buy 30% of the gas coming off the pipeline for the next 20 years,” Trump said at a rally in Alaska. “That guarantees a success.”
Trump’s remarks follow repeated claims earlier this month that South Korea had agreed to join the $50 billion Alaska LNG project, even as Seoul maintained that its participation had not been finalized. “We’ll also invest $4.4 billion into the project, on top of $50 billion already committed by South Korea to Alaska,” Trump said.
Trump has also stepped up pressure on South Korea. Earlier this month, he warned that he would charge the country more and threatened to double the charges if Seoul failed to sign soon, without specifying what would be doubled. The comments prompted speculation in South Korean media that he was referring to higher tariffs.
Last year, Taiwan’s state-owned energy company CPC Corp. reportedly reached an agreement with the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. to purchase LNG and invest in the pipeline project.
Taiwan, home to chip giant TSMC, has seen its energy demand climb because of growth tied to artificial intelligence. The island relies on imports for more than 90% of its energy supply. This summer, it projected that its average electricity demand growth rate through 2035 would exceed that of Japan and South Korea.
Taiwan’s economic affairs ministry said that growth rate would reach about 2.5% a year, the second-highest forecast in its history.
Glenfarne, the developer of the Alaska LNG pipeline, told the U.S. government in a report this month that the project aims to deliver its first gas in 2029.
The democratically governed island is still waiting on major new arms sales from the United States. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory.
