WASHINGTON, May 11, 2026 – Last week, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), John Curtis (R-UT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) sent a letter urging President Trump to formally notify $14 billion in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan ahead of his summit with Chinese President Xi later this week.

“We strongly encourage your administration to formally notify the $14 billion in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan that Congress pre-approved in January 2025,” wrote the Senators. “Following months of encouragement from bipartisan members of Congress and your administration, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan today approved a robust special defense budget of $25 billion to enhance the island’s self-defense capabilities. The vast majority of this new budget will fund U.S.-provided defensive arms pending notification to Congress, including counter-drone assets, an integrated battle command system and medium-range munitions.”

The Senators insisted to the President that American support for Taiwan not be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Xi.

“Just as Taiwan’s leaders demonstrated unity in support of their people’s defense, so too must we move ahead with pending U.S. arms sales vital to our own national interests,” continued the Senators. “You should make clear to Beijing that as you seek to level the economic playing field, American support for Taiwan is not up for negotiation.”

The Senators outlined the negative consequences that PRC control of Taiwan would have on American families.

“In a world in which Beijing moves decisively to seek control of Taiwan, American families would suffer from severe and long-term inflation, supply chain disruptions that would destroy manufacturing jobs at home and steep hikes in the cost of living,” concluded the Senators. “We would lose a vital democratic and technology partner to autocracy and our allies would be forced to readjust to a regional order dominated by Beijing. This future is not theoretical. It can and must be prevented and we have partners in Taipei stepping up to meet the challenge. That is why we urge you to formally notify the $14 billion package of arms to Congress as required by law.”

Full text of the letter to President Trump is available HERE and provided below.

Dear President Trump:

Ahead of your summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, we urge you and your team to make clear that America’s support for Taiwan is inviolable. In particular, we strongly encourage your administration to formally notify the $14 billion in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan that Congress pre-approved in January 2025. Following months of encouragement from bipartisan members of Congress and your administration, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan today approved a robust special defense budget of $25 billion to enhance the island’s self-defense capabilities. The vast majority of this new budget will fund U.S.-provided defensive arms pending notification to Congress, including counter-drone assets, an integrated battle command system and medium-range munitions. Taiwan’s leaders secured cross-party agreement on this significant additional investment in deterrence despite persistent and overt pressure from Beijing to block the budget altogether. Just as Taiwan’s leaders demonstrated unity in support of their people’s defense, so too must we move ahead with pending U.S. arms sales vital to our own national interests. You should make clear to Beijing that as you seek to level the economic playing field, American support for Taiwan is not up for negotiation.

Many of us have traveled to Taiwan in recent months and were reminded not only of the stakes in a cross-strait contingency but also of the centrality of American support to checking China’s aggression. The arms and security partnership that we have provided to Taiwan on a bipartisan basis for over four decades serve as an effective bulwark against Chinese military action that would plunge the world into a catastrophic war, cause a lasting economic depression and permanently change the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific to Beijing’s advantage. The conventional and asymmetric capabilities we provide – drones, anti-ship missiles, radar systems and mines – make a Chinese invasion prohibitively costly and thereby help preserve the peaceful status quo. Swiftly advancing the pending U.S. arms package to Taiwan would also support jobs across the United States and investment in our defense industrial base as we face mounting global threats.

Political leaders from across Taiwan have just overcome extraordinary and sustained pressure from Beijing to support defense investments that bolster our partnership, protect the Taiwanese people’s freedoms and help prevent Chinese aggression that would lead to catastrophe. In a world in which Beijing moves decisively to seek control of Taiwan, American families would suffer from severe and long-term inflation, supply chain disruptions that would destroy manufacturing jobs at home and steep hikes in the cost of living. We would lose a vital democratic and technology partner to autocracy and our allies would be forced to readjust to a regional order dominated by Beijing. This future is not theoretical. It can and must be prevented and we have partners in Taipei stepping up to meet the challenge. That is why we urge you to formally notify the $14 billion package of arms to Congress as required by law. For the sake of all Americans, the United States must continue to help Taiwan defend itself – as we have since Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979.