Trump Discusses Taiwan Issue in Fox News Interview After Meeting with Xi Jinping: Full Q&A
Former US President Donald Trump, in a Fox News interview, discussed his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, focusing on Taiwan. He expressed a desire for the status quo and for cross-strait tensions to de-escalate, while also revealing he is holding back approval for billions in arms sales to Taiwan.
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- 📰 Published: May 16, 2026 at 12:18
- 🔍 Collected: May 16, 2026 at 12:31 (13 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 16, 2026 at 13:57 (1h 25m after Collected)
Central News Agency
(Central News Agency Washington, May 15, Comprehensive Foreign News Report) Fox News aired an exclusive one-on-one interview between host Bret Baier and US President Donald Trump. Trump elaborated on his face-to-face negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the potential impact of these talks on global security.
The full Q&A regarding Taiwan from this interview is as follows:
Q: I wanted to ask about Iran and artificial intelligence, but China has made it clear that Taiwan is very important to them. After your first day of meetings, President Xi's spokesperson issued a statement through the media saying that the Taiwan issue is the most important issue in US-China relations. If handled well, the relationship between the two countries can maintain overall stability; if not handled well, the two countries will collide or even conflict, pushing the entire US-China relationship into a very dangerous situation. When this statement was issued, you were still in the meeting. It sounded almost like a threat. Was this message conveyed in your closed-door meeting as well?
A: No, no, no, not at all.
But this has always been their most important issue. It's not about taking over, they just don't want to see this place (referring to Taiwan), called a place because nobody knows how to define it, but they don't want to see it independent, they don't want to do that. I think they might do some very tough things, and then they'll be treated tough, and bad things will happen.
So it's not like that. By the way, we talked about this issue all last night (presumably during the state dinner). I think I know more about Taiwan now than I do about almost any other country.
Q: Did he dominate the entire conversation?
A: From the day I met him many years ago, this has always been his most important thing. I've known him for 11, 12 years, and Taiwan has always been the most important thing to him.
Now that I'm here (referring to Trump's presidency), I don't think they'll do anything; but when I'm not here, I think they might, honestly.
I'm not sure they'll do anything under the status quo, but some people over there (referring to Taiwan) now want to move towards independence. When you move towards independence, you know, moving towards independence is a dangerous thing. If they move towards independence, it's like entering a war, and they think the US will support them.
I hope to see the status quo maintained. I'll tell you, I'm going to release a little news: I want to see everyone who manufactures chips in Taiwan come to the United States, because honestly, I think that's the best thing you can do, because this is an intense situation. No doubt. As you know, we now have a large number of chip companies coming from Taiwan to the United States, and we expect that by the end of my term, we will control 40% to 50% of the global chip industry. And I think it should be more. I think all those chip companies, if they're smart, they'll start heading to Arizona and where they're building factories, and that will solve your problem.
Q: Should the people of Taiwan feel safer or less safe after your meeting with President Xi?
A: Neutral, neutral.
Q: Has there been any policy change?
A: No, no change, no change. I would say I don't want to see anyone moving towards independence, and you know, we'd have to fly 9,500 miles to fight a war, and I don't want that. I want them to calm down. I want China to calm down.
Q: But you're waiting to approve billions of dollars in weapons for Taiwan. Will that move forward?
A: I haven't approved it yet. We'll see what happens. I might, or I might not.
Q: What's your red line?
A: I won't say, but I might, or I might not.
But we don't want war. If the status quo is maintained, I think China will accept it. But we don't want anyone saying, 'Let's move towards independence because the US supports us.'
Q: So President Xi probably likes that you haven't approved arms sales to Taiwan?
A: I would say the word 'like' might be too strong, because he thinks I can do this with just a signature, unlike Biden who can't sign.
I'm holding it back for now, and it depends on China. This is a good bargaining chip for us, and honestly, it's a lot of weapons, 12 billion US dollars (editor's note: should be 14 billion), a lot of weapons. But you know, from a probability standpoint, China is a very powerful great nation, and that's a very small island.
Think about it, they are only 59 miles away, 59 miles, and we are 9,500 miles away. This is a bit of a difficult problem.
That being said, if you look at Taiwan's history, the reason Taiwan developed into what it is today is because some of our presidents didn't know what they were doing. Because if they had imposed tariffs on imported chips, they (the chip industry) wouldn't have left. Everything is about Intel and our chip companies, they stole our chip industry. So I've been saying for years that they stole our chips. If we had had a president in the past who said, 'We will impose a 100% tariff on chips, you can leave and build factories in Taiwan, but when you sell them back to the US, we will impose a 100% or 200% tariff,' we would never have lost the chip industry then. We lost the chip industry, and (now) it's all coming back.
I want to emphasize that it would be very wise for Taiwan to de-escalate the situation a bit, and it would also be very wise for China to de-escalate the situation a bit. Both sides should calm down. (Translators: Lu Ying-tzu, Chen Yi-wei) 1150516
(Central News Agency Washington, May 15, Comprehensive Foreign News Report) Fox News aired an exclusive one-on-one interview between host Bret Baier and US President Donald Trump. Trump elaborated on his face-to-face negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the potential impact of these talks on global security.
The full Q&A regarding Taiwan from this interview is as follows:
Q: I wanted to ask about Iran and artificial intelligence, but China has made it clear that Taiwan is very important to them. After your first day of meetings, President Xi's spokesperson issued a statement through the media saying that the Taiwan issue is the most important issue in US-China relations. If handled well, the relationship between the two countries can maintain overall stability; if not handled well, the two countries will collide or even conflict, pushing the entire US-China relationship into a very dangerous situation. When this statement was issued, you were still in the meeting. It sounded almost like a threat. Was this message conveyed in your closed-door meeting as well?
A: No, no, no, not at all.
But this has always been their most important issue. It's not about taking over, they just don't want to see this place (referring to Taiwan), called a place because nobody knows how to define it, but they don't want to see it independent, they don't want to do that. I think they might do some very tough things, and then they'll be treated tough, and bad things will happen.
So it's not like that. By the way, we talked about this issue all last night (presumably during the state dinner). I think I know more about Taiwan now than I do about almost any other country.
Q: Did he dominate the entire conversation?
A: From the day I met him many years ago, this has always been his most important thing. I've known him for 11, 12 years, and Taiwan has always been the most important thing to him.
Now that I'm here (referring to Trump's presidency), I don't think they'll do anything; but when I'm not here, I think they might, honestly.
I'm not sure they'll do anything under the status quo, but some people over there (referring to Taiwan) now want to move towards independence. When you move towards independence, you know, moving towards independence is a dangerous thing. If they move towards independence, it's like entering a war, and they think the US will support them.
I hope to see the status quo maintained. I'll tell you, I'm going to release a little news: I want to see everyone who manufactures chips in Taiwan come to the United States, because honestly, I think that's the best thing you can do, because this is an intense situation. No doubt. As you know, we now have a large number of chip companies coming from Taiwan to the United States, and we expect that by the end of my term, we will control 40% to 50% of the global chip industry. And I think it should be more. I think all those chip companies, if they're smart, they'll start heading to Arizona and where they're building factories, and that will solve your problem.
Q: Should the people of Taiwan feel safer or less safe after your meeting with President Xi?
A: Neutral, neutral.
Q: Has there been any policy change?
A: No, no change, no change. I would say I don't want to see anyone moving towards independence, and you know, we'd have to fly 9,500 miles to fight a war, and I don't want that. I want them to calm down. I want China to calm down.
Q: But you're waiting to approve billions of dollars in weapons for Taiwan. Will that move forward?
A: I haven't approved it yet. We'll see what happens. I might, or I might not.
Q: What's your red line?
A: I won't say, but I might, or I might not.
But we don't want war. If the status quo is maintained, I think China will accept it. But we don't want anyone saying, 'Let's move towards independence because the US supports us.'
Q: So President Xi probably likes that you haven't approved arms sales to Taiwan?
A: I would say the word 'like' might be too strong, because he thinks I can do this with just a signature, unlike Biden who can't sign.
I'm holding it back for now, and it depends on China. This is a good bargaining chip for us, and honestly, it's a lot of weapons, 12 billion US dollars (editor's note: should be 14 billion), a lot of weapons. But you know, from a probability standpoint, China is a very powerful great nation, and that's a very small island.
Think about it, they are only 59 miles away, 59 miles, and we are 9,500 miles away. This is a bit of a difficult problem.
That being said, if you look at Taiwan's history, the reason Taiwan developed into what it is today is because some of our presidents didn't know what they were doing. Because if they had imposed tariffs on imported chips, they (the chip industry) wouldn't have left. Everything is about Intel and our chip companies, they stole our chip industry. So I've been saying for years that they stole our chips. If we had had a president in the past who said, 'We will impose a 100% tariff on chips, you can leave and build factories in Taiwan, but when you sell them back to the US, we will impose a 100% or 200% tariff,' we would never have lost the chip industry then. We lost the chip industry, and (now) it's all coming back.
I want to emphasize that it would be very wise for Taiwan to de-escalate the situation a bit, and it would also be very wise for China to de-escalate the situation a bit. Both sides should calm down. (Translators: Lu Ying-tzu, Chen Yi-wei) 1150516