Trump Weighs Direct Call With Lai Ching-te as $14 Billion Arms Package Stalls

President Donald Trump stated on May 21, 2026, that he intends to speak directly with Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te, tying a potential call to his administration's unresolved decision on a $14 billion arms package for the island. Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that he would speak with Lai when asked whether he would call him before deciding whether to sign off on the Congress-approved arms sale. No concrete timeline for the call has been disclosed, but Trump has signaled his intent twice in the span of one week. U.S. and Taiwanese presidents have not spoken directly since 1979, when Washington shifted diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei.

The arms package at issue has been pending since Congress approved it in January 2025. The package includes PAC-3 MSE interceptors and NASAMS air defense missiles and has been ready for Trump's signature since that congressional approval. Taiwan's legislature separately appropriated $25 billion to fund the pending $14 billion package and an $11 billion tranche Trump approved in late 2025, with that earlier deal reportedly prompting Xi to warn Trump against further arms deliveries in a February call. Trump subsequently stated he was holding the $14 billion package "in abeyance" and that it "depends on China," calling it "a very good negotiating chip." The president acknowledged he discussed the sale with Xi during his mid-May Beijing summit, telling reporters he reviewed the arms sales with Xi "in great detail."

Both moves, consulting Xi on the sale and potentially calling Lai directly, implicate long-standing legal and policy frameworks governing the U.S.-Taiwan relationship. The foundational statute is the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which requires the U.S. to help provide for Taiwan's defense. Layered atop that statute are the Reagan-era Six Assurances, articulated in 1982, one of which expressly states that the United States has not agreed to consult with the People's Republic of China on arms sales to Taiwan. Former National Security Council official Ryan Hass, now at the Brookings Institution, noted that Beijing has long sought to require Washington to consult on Taiwan arms sales, a demand consistently rejected by previous administrations in line with the Six Assurances. Critics argue Trump's Beijing conversations broke that precedent. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer appeared to distance himself from Trump's position, insisting there is "no change in American policy," just days after Trump openly stated he was using arms sales as a bargaining chip, which would violate decades-old policy assurances. A bill introduced in the House in May 2025, the Six Assurances to Taiwan Act, would codify those commitments into statutory law if enacted.

A direct presidential call with Lai would break a separate, equally durable norm. Trump took a phone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen before his first term, but no sitting U.S. president has spoken directly with a Taiwanese counterpart since diplomatic ties were severed in 1979. Trump's May 21 remarks were the second time within one week he publicly stated his intent to speak with Lai, diminishing the possibility that his earlier comment was accidental. Taiwan's government signaled readiness. Taiwan's Ambassador to Washington, Alexander Yui, confirmed that a call between Trump and Lai had not been scheduled but described communication between the two governments as "constant." A Taiwanese foreign ministry spokesperson added that President Lai would be "happy to discuss this with President Trump."

Beijing registered objections through multiple channels. Following the Trump-Xi summit, China's foreign ministry stated that Xi warned Trump that Taiwan remained the "most important issue" in U.S.-China relations and cautioned that mishandling it could lead to "clashes and even conflicts." Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu, responding to POLITICO, called on the White House to stop sending what he described as wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces [POLITICO]. China's Defense Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin accused Lai of harboring illusions about seeking independence through "external forces" and of "attempting to change the fundamental status quo that Taiwan belongs to China."

Congressional pressure has run in the opposite direction. A bipartisan group of senators, including Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, wrote to Trump ahead of the Beijing summit urging him to formally notify the $14 billion arms sale, which Congress pre-approved in January 2025. Lawmakers warned in that letter that "American support for Taiwan is not up for negotiation." Secretary of State Marco Rubio separately told NBC News that U.S. policy toward Taiwan is "unchanged" and called any Chinese attempt to take the island by force "a terrible mistake." As of this writing, no sale notification has been transmitted to Congress, no call with Lai has been scheduled, and the White House has said only that Trump will make a determination "in a fairly short time." [POLITICO]