The Trump administration has just whispered to Congress that they want to complete a sale of 8 billion in F-16s to Taiwan:
WASHINGTON POST – The Trump administration is moving ahead with for an $8 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan despite strong objections from China, a U.S. official and others familiar with the deal said Thursday.
The administration notified Congress late Thursday that it would submit the package for informal review, said the people familiar with the sale. It would be the largest and most significant sale of weaponry to the self-governing island in years, and comes amid stalled trade talks and a deteriorating relationship with China.
Lawmakers from both parties had questioned whether the White House would scuttle the sale to soften the ground for a U.S.-China trade deal, or otherwise use the fighter jets as a bargaining chip in deadlocked negotiations.
The State Department told Congress to expect the arms package to be informally submitted to them by Friday evening, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee would review the package. They are not expected to raise objections.
The people familiar with the proposed sale requests anonymity to discuss a sensitive pending deal. Neither the State Department nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment.
This comes on the heels of Trump last month approving the sale of both Abrams tanks and anti-aircraft missiles to the country.
But the sale of F-16s an even bigger deal, and I don’t mean monetarily. According to CNN, China is so hostile to the sale of F-16s to Taiwan that Obama refused to make the deal:
China is viewed as being much more hostile to this deal than any other US arms sale to Taiwan. The Obama administration avoided completing this particular sale of 66 F-16 jets, opting to upgrade existing Taiwanese jets instead.
Everyone just assumes that Trump won’t make a sale like this because he’s trying to twist China’s arm in a trade deal. But that doesn’t appear to be the case at all.
Many are glad to see Trump pushing forward with this deal, despite how China feels about it. Mark Levin certainly approves of it, tweeting “Excellent, Mr. President”:
Excellent, Mr. President https://t.co/bI6r8f0Egc
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) August 16, 2019