Trust.

Care to elaborate?

After the Snowden disclosures, not sure about that.

For all their flaws (including those plaguing the US right now), I would still much rather live under a Western-style democracy than an autocracy.

Purchasing products made under autocratic regimes strengthens those regimes and gives them more power on the world stage.

I think "moral obligation" (a phrase the GP did not use, for the record) is a bit over the top, though.

> Purchasing products made under autocratic regimes strengthens those regimes and gives them more power on the world stage. you wouldnt be able to export anything if other people took this stance, so how would anyone make any money?

The West lives under semi-democracy (partial oligarchy) and exports autocracy.[1] It’s fine for us to prefer to live here (I do; well it’s what I know) but we can’t claim the moral highground (not that anyone in this thread has done that necessarily).

[1]: Why are these countries “autocracies”? To better resist foreign intervention.

It's not about that; Taiwan is West-aligned anyway. It's for maintaining some level of self-reliance. When a country loses skills, it's hard to go back. Also, basic economics says that trade helps the country's overall economy, but that ignores how it's not applied equally. US manufacturing towns have been hollowed out over the years.