Taiwan is dumping $13 billion into shielding its own citizens from skyrocketing energy bills while American taxpayers bankroll the island's defense and suffer under policies designed to make American energy more expensive.
The contrast lays bare the deal ordinary Americans keep getting handed: their government takes care of foreigners first and tells them to eat the cost at the pump.
According to OilPrice, Taiwan is allocating the equivalent of $13 billion for energy cost support for state power company Taipower and state refiner CPC to offset cost inflation driven by the war in the Middle East. Taiwan's economy ministry said CPC "cannot absorb the difference between adjusted and non-adjusted oil and gas prices" and warned that without the cash, both companies "may struggle to continue serving as price stabilisers, causing price volatility."
Taiwan is subsidizing consumer energy costs directly — unlike other nations that pass costs to households. The island imports 94% to 97% of its energy, relying heavily on liquefied natural gas from Qatar and the UAE. Natural gas accounts for over 23% of its power generation, oil another 36%, and coal nearly 32%. Semiconductor giant TSMC alone burns through 8% of the island's electricity.
OilPrice framed the subsidies as a natural response to Middle East-driven price shocks. What it buried: the United States is already increasing LNG exports to Taiwan at premium prices — meaning American gas leaves domestic markets, tightening supply at home, while the Taiwanese government makes sure its people don't feel the pinch.
Meanwhile, back in the country actually paying for Taiwan's security umbrella, there is no $13 billion subsidy for working Americans staring down inflated utility bills. President Trump hammered the point this week, ripping California Democrats for shutting down refineries and forcing the state to rely on foreign crude. "They closed their refineries. You know, they had a lot of refineries. They were actually the third or fourth biggest oil producer in the country," Trump said, as The Gateway Pundit reported. "They are being charged so much. It's so sad to see and how they keep electing these people that have no idea what they're doing."
Trump announced a $54 billion Alaska LNG investment as part of a broader $350 billion deal with South Korea, alongside a $22.3 billion Texas gas plant and eight large nuclear reactors. The Gateway Pundit focused on Trump's clash with California's environmental policies; it didn't connect the dots to the Taiwan subsidy story running at the same time.
But the dots connect themselves. Taiwan's government treats cheap energy for its citizens as a national priority. Washington treats cheap energy for Americans as a climate sin. The bipartisan foreign aid machine keeps writing checks abroad — weapons, security guarantees, implicit defense commitments — while the same permanent class tells working Americans that higher prices are the price of progress.
The open question: when does Washington start negotiating like Taiwan does — like its own people come first?
