Trump Dangles Taiwan Call That Could Derail US-China Ties (1)

US President Donald Trump again indicated he would speak directly with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, a move that would risk disrupting newly stabilized ties between the world’s two largest economies.

“Well, I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday when asked whether he planned to call Lai. He offered no time frame or further details.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te

Photographer: YU Chen Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

A direct call between a sitting US president and Taiwan’s leader could upend the carefully managed ambiguity governing cross-strait relations since 1979, when Washington recognized Beijing and severed formal ties with Taipei.

Trump, as president-elect in 2016, took ...