Japan to commit $550-bn investment in US as part of new trade deal

Three large-scale investment projects backed by Tokyo worth $36 billion will be the first tranche under the commitment.

The announcements followed meetings last week between Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Japan’s economic and trade minister Ryosei Akazawa.

The United States will reduce tariffs on Japanese imports to 15 per cent.

The projects cover energy exports, power generation and advanced manufacturing across Texas, Ohio and Georgia.

"Our MASSIVE Trade Deal with Japan has just launched! Japan is now officially, and financially, moving forward with the FIRST set of Investments under its $550 BILLION Dollar Commitment to invest in the United States of America—part of our Historic Trade Deal to REVITALIZE the American Industrial Base, create HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of GREAT American Jobs, and strengthen our National and Economic Security like never before," Trump said on Truth Social.

The projects would focus on “Oil & Gas in the Great State of Texas, Power Generation in the Great State of Ohio, and Critical Minerals in the Great State of Georgia,” he said.

The announcement also includes a $33 billion natural gas-fired power plant in Portsmouth, Ohio. The facility would generate 9.2 gigawatts of electricity annually, Lutnick said. The plant will be operated by SB Energy, a subsidiary of Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group.

"The scale of these projects are so large, and could not be done without one very special word, TARIFFS. The Gas Power Plant in Ohio (A State I won THREE TIMES!) will be the largest in History, the LNG Facility in the Gulf of America will drive Exports, and further our Country's Energy DOMINANCE, and our Critical Minerals Facility will end our FOOLISH dependance on Foreign Sources," Trump wrote.

A second project involves Japan’s investment in the $2.1 billion Texas GulfLink deepwater crude oil export terminal off the Texas coast, being developed by Sentinel Midstream. The funding would support the development of the offshore facility, Lutnick told a global newswire.

The third is a $600-million synthetic industrial diamond manufacturing plant in Georgia. The facility is expected to meet US demand for synthetic diamond grit, a material used in advanced manufacturing and semiconductor production. The United States is now dependent mostly on China for such these materials.

The White House said the plant would be operated by Element Six, an industrial diamond company and a unit of De Beers Group, the world’s largest diamond producer.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)