U.S. States Focus on Taiwan as Trade War Continues

Taiwan’s role in the global automotive supply chain continues to increase, which is one reason so many U.S. states are on site.

May 7, 2025

Sebastian Blanco

A collection of U.S. states presented their local benefits to an audience of Taiwanese automotive suppliers at the 2025 360 Degree Mobility event in Taipei. Pennsylvania’s booth focused on the state’s leadership in robotics and autonomous vehicle technologies. (Sebastian Blanco)

Interest in Taiwan as a source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the U.S. has been growing in recent years. At this year’s 360 Degree Mobility event in Taipei, held in late April, a half dozen states, including New Mexico and West Virginia, had representatives staffing booths. Texas made its debut appearance at the show after establishing a Taiwan office in July 2024 with an eye towards getting Taiwanese AI companies to manufacture components in Texas. Pennsylvania’s message was similar, with an emphasis on trade deals, not just stateside investment.

Texas’ booth emphasized that the state is the 8th largest economy in the world, if the state were its own nation. (Sebastian Blanco)

“Our mission is to promote Pennsylvania business interests focusing on trade and investment, as I guess you are hearing from the other states,” Liran Golan, an authorized trade representative for Pennsylvania in Taiwan, told SAE Media. “[Small and medium enterprises] may not be able to afford having their own massive business development and sales office with a hub in Asia. Those are the ones who need our help if they want to look for distributors or supplier partners.”

Not known as an automotive manufacturing center, Pennsylvania is in Taiwan to highlight its autonomous and electronic technical development work.

A feature of many state displays was a geography lesson showing delivery times to get parts to or from nearby states. (Sebastian Blanco)

“Pittsburgh prides itself, markets itself as the robotics capital of the U.S., and under that category, you can also find autonomous vehicles, since an autonomous vehicle is a kind of a robot,” Golan said. “There is a well-developed ecosystem of related sectors and companies in and around Pittsburgh. That would be the most direct connection between this show and what the state has to offer.”

Three years ago, the view from the 360 Degree Mobility event was quite different. Golan said that was when Pennsylvania first participated, and it was the only U.S. state to have a booth that year.

“I think, compared to other states, perhaps we have a bit more generous marketing budget that we can spread around to more shows,” he said. “When we came on board [as a state with an office in Taiwan], there were only, I think, nine states represented here. Now, [there are] 24. If I’m not mistaken, it’s even greater than the number of American states in Germany. It’s a very impressive number, especially for the size of Taiwan, which shows you the weight that it pulls when it comes to the American economy.”

Michigan seems to agree. The state only has one trade office of this type outside the U.S., and it’s in Taiwan. Michigan’s mission leans heavily on the FDI side of the international business ledger. When the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) opened its Taiwan office in March 2024, it said it would work to promote investment, especially in the semiconductor and EV industries.

“There are a lot of ways to get rid of the Chinese supply chain, and Taiwan is a good fit,” KC Kong, director of the Michigan Taiwan office, told SAE Media. “We have good technology in manufacturing, in electronics, and so the government really wanted to kind of promote investment from Taiwan.”

Media rankings for a state – like Virginia’s #3 rating for infrastructure from CNBC – were also commonly featured. (Sebastian Blanco)

Pennsylvania’s Golan said Taiwan has long been important to American manufacturing, but it’s never been flashy about it.

“[Taiwan’s impact] is not evident based on, say, big brands,” he said. “It’s not a Taiwan thing. It’s an American thing. Taiwan manufactures for the big brands, and a lot of them happen to be in the U.S. Every advanced electronic gadget you hold in your hands was most likely manufactured here. Same for the auto industry. One of the first countries that Tesla went to outside the U.S. for manufacturing, to find good, cost-effective manufacturers, was in Taiwan.”

Golan pointed out that there’s no Tesla-branded manufacturing facility in Taiwan.

“They don’t have a facility. That’s what I’m saying. They have suppliers,” he said. “On the surface of it, you will never know that a company is supplying Tesla. They won’t advertise it. But for some of Tesla’s models – not all of their models – up to 70% of the parts come from Taiwan. So, yeah, Taiwan is perfectly okay with taking a backseat.”