Senate Resolution Invokes Taiwan Relations Act as Trump Holds $14 Billion Arms Package

Four senators, two from each party, introduced a resolution May 23 reasserting that U.S. law requires arms sales to Taiwan and that Washington does not consult Beijing before conducting them. The measure was introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Chris Coons, D-Del. The resolution affirms the United States' longstanding Six Assurances to Taiwan, including that the U.S. does not consult with the People's Republic of China on arms sales to Taiwan, and reiterates that central pillars of the Taiwan Relations Act, including provision of arms of a defensive character, continue to govern U.S. policy.

The resolution arrives directly on the heels of President Trump's May summit in Beijing. Trump said he was uncertain whether he would approve a planned $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan after discussing arms sales "in great detail" with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump has described the stalled package, which Congress approved in January, as a "negotiating chip with China." Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said U.S. Taiwan policy "remains unchanged" and that the United States "continues to adhere to long-standing commitment consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act," without addressing the status of the specific package. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao offered a separate rationale, telling Congress that the package had been paused to ensure the U.S. has sufficient weapons for the Iran war, though a source familiar with the process said a decision would come "soon" and that the sales "take years to process and are unrelated to" the Iran operation.

The statutory question at issue is direct. The Taiwan Relations Act, Public Law 96-8, enacted April 10, 1979, requires the United States to have a policy "to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character" and "to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan."^[1] Under the statute, the president and Congress determine the nature and quantity of defense articles and services based solely on their judgment of Taiwan's needs, in accordance with procedures established by law. The Six Assurances, first communicated to Taipei by the Reagan administration in July 1982 and repeatedly reaffirmed by subsequent Congresses, add a separate commitment: that the U.S. has not agreed to consult China before conducting those sales.^[2]

The $14 billion package has a documented legislative history. Senior lawmakers offered early approval to the package in January, but it has stalled in the State Department for months, raising broader questions about the administration's approach to Taiwan and its effort to recalibrate relations with Beijing. A senior administration official said in a statement that Trump approved $11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan in December 2025. China was aware of the pending $14 billion package and sought either to halt it, cancel it, or break it into smaller tranches ahead of the summit. Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed after the Beijing talks that U.S. policy was unchanged.

The senators' resolution does not cite Trump by name, but the context is explicit. Sen. Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement that Trump "failed to defend U.S. obligations to help provide for Taiwan's defense, dangerously undermining deterrence against Chinese aggression," and that the failure carries "real costs for Americans by inviting aggression from the PRC." Shaheen also called on the administration to formally notify Congress of the $14 billion in arms sales that Congress pre-approved in January 2026. The resolution carries no binding legal force; as a simple Senate resolution, it expresses the sense of the chamber but does not require a House companion bill or presidential signature.

The introduction of the resolution fits a pattern of congressional action running at cross-purposes to executive restraint on Taiwan. The Porcupine Act, passed by the Senate in December 2025, sought to accelerate arms transfers by elevating Taiwan's standing within export control frameworks, and the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act expanded joint training and funding for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The pre-summit letter urging Trump to proceed with the $14 billion package was signed by eight senators spanning both parties, and was timed to coincide with Taiwan's legislature approving a $25 billion special defense budget. The current resolution represents the second distinct congressional instrument in two weeks directed at the same executive decision, signaling that the foreign relations committees in both chambers intend to press the notification question until the administration acts or declines.