President Donald Trump speaks during an address to the nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Wednesday, December 17, 2025, in Washington.
Doug Mills/Paul The New York Times/AP
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Doug Mills/Paul The New York Times/AP
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has announced a massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10 billion that includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, a move sure to anger China.
The State Department announced the sales late Wednesday during a nationally televised address by President Donald Trump, who made little mention of foreign policy issues and did not talk about China or Taiwan at all. Tensions between the United States and China have ebbed and ebbed during Trump’s second term, largely over trade and tariffs, but also because of China’s increasing aggressiveness toward Taiwan, which Beijing has said should unite with the mainland.
The eight arms sales agreements announced Wednesday cover 82 High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems, or HIMARS, and 420 Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS — similar to what the United States was providing to Ukraine during the Biden administration to defend itself from Russia — worth more than $4 billion. It also includes 60 self-propelled howitzer systems and related equipment worth more than $4 billion and drones worth more than $1 billion.
Other sales in the package include military software worth more than $1 billion, Javelin and TOW missiles worth more than $700 million, helicopter parts worth $96 million, and Harpoon missile refurbishment kits worth $91 million.
In separate but nearly identical statements, the State Department said the sales serve “U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient nation’s ongoing efforts to modernize its armed forces and maintain a reliable defense capability.”
“The proposed sale(s) will help improve the security of the recipient and help maintain political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region,” the statement read.
Under federal law, the United States is obligated to help Taiwan defend itself, a point that has become increasingly controversial with China, which has vowed to seize Taiwan by force, if necessary.
In a statement on Thursday, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense expressed its gratitude to the United States over the arms sale, which it said would help Taiwan maintain “adequate self-defense capabilities” and provide strong deterrence capabilities. The ministry said that Taiwan’s strengthening of its defense “is the basis for maintaining regional peace and stability.”
Likewise, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung thanked the United States for its “longstanding support for regional security and Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities,” which he said were key to deterring conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the body of water that separates Taiwan from mainland China.
The arms sales come as Taiwan’s government pledged to raise defense spending to 3.3% of the island’s GDP next year and reach 5% by 2030. The increase came after Trump and the Pentagon asked Taiwan to spend up to 10% of its GDP on its defense, a much higher percentage than the United States or any of its key allies spend on defense. This request faced opposition from the opposition Kuomintang Party in Taiwan and some of its residents.
Last month, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te announced a special $40 billion budget for weapons purchases, including the construction of an air defense system with high-level detection and interception capabilities called the “Taiwan Dome.” The budget will be allocated over eight years, from 2026 to 2033.
The US increase in military aid to Taiwan has been laid out in legislation approved by Congress and which Trump is expected to sign soon.
Last week, the Chinese embassy in Washington denounced the legislation known as the National Defense Authorization Act, saying it unfairly targets China as an aggressor.
“The bill has continued to incite the ‘Chinese threat’ narrative, promote military support for Taiwan, abuse state power to pursue China’s economic development, limit trade, economic and people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States, undermine China’s sovereignty and security and development interests and disrupt the efforts of both sides to stabilize bilateral relations,” Beijing’s embassy in Washington said after the legislation passed in the House of Representatives.
She added, “China deeply regrets and strongly opposes this.”
The US Senate approved the bill on Wednesday.