Taiwan's National Security Bureau paid an American consulting firm to open doors in Washington during last year's tariff talks — a sign of how hard Taipei worked to protect its trade position, and it says everything was registered legally.

• Taiwan's security bureau hired US firm ASG Corp. for about six months of advice on government relations and trade, paying $325,000.
• The firm set up a meeting between Taiwan's security chief Tsai Ming-yen and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, one of Trump's closest voices on tariffs.
• The work started right after Trump announced his across-the-board tariffs, when Taiwan faced pressure on trade terms, US investment, and supply chains.
• The bureau says paid lobbying is normal practice between democracies and that it filed all required disclosures under US foreign-agent rules.
• Taipei credits this multi-channel push for landing better tariff terms than its main competitors.

Outlook: Expect more scrutiny in Taiwan's legislature over spending public money on Washington lobbying, even as the government defends it as normal.