Trump calls investment done deal; Seoul says no final decision has been made
US President Donald Trump has again asserted South Korea pledged $50 billion to a massive liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, despite Seoul's insistence that no final investment decision has been made, as he touts foreign investment ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said he had launched the Alaska LNG project, describing it as the largest energy infrastructure project in the state’s history.
"This 50 billion dollar infrastructure investment from the Republic of Korea is part of their trade and investment deal with me," Trump said, presenting the investment as a done deal under the bilateral trade agreement reached last year.
The claim contrasts with the South Korean government’s position that its participation in the project remains under review and would depend on commercial viability.
A joint US-South Korea fact sheet stated that the two countries have agreed to begin work on the Alaska LNG project, subject to "meeting commercial reasonableness" and all applicable domestic legal requirements.
Trump also said on the post that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had secured between $70 billion and $80 billion in LNG purchase commitments from Taiwan, covering 30 percent of the project’s output over the next 20 years.
Describing the arrangement as the "largest offtake agreement in history," Trump added that Taiwan had also agreed to invest $4.4 billion in equity in the project.
The latest remarks echoed claims he made Tuesday during a visit to Alaska, where he campaigned for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who faces a tight race against Democrat Mary Peltola in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
With less than three weeks until the election, Trump has been highlighting investment commitments from South Korea, Japan and Taiwan as evidence of the success of his tariff and trade policies.
In a separate Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump touted Japan’s decision to invest $21 billion to build two new chip plants operated by GlobalFoundries in New York.
"Today, under my leadership, GlobalFoundries and my Department of Commerce led by Secretary Howard Lutnick announced a massive 21 billion investment to build 2 giant new semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Malta, New York," Trump wrote.
Trump described the investment as another result of his trade agreements, which he said were designed to rebuild the US industrial base, create American jobs and strengthen economic and national security.
"We are turning the investment commitments from Japan, Korea and Taiwan into huge construction projects," he said. "These are transformational and generational deals for America — more semiconductors, more power, more energy security and more jobs for the USA."
sahn@heraldcorp.com