Trump announces ‘massive’ investments in US by Japan as part of $550 billion commitment — where is Tokyo investing?

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) announced that Japan was "officially, and financially" moving forward with announcing major investments in the US as part of the major bilateral trade agreement announced earlier.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, "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."

"Today, I am pleased to announce three TREMENDOUS Projects in the Strategic Areas of 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," the US President added, without adding further details.

“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,” he further said.

Investments worth $36 billion in minerals, oil, and gas

These investments by Japan in the US, spanning critical minerals, oil and gas infrastructure, totals roughly $36 billion, reported Wall Street Journal.

The largest project, to be led by SoftBank subsidiary SB Power, is a $33 billion gas-fired power generation facility in Portsmouth, Ohio, expected to produce 9.2 gigawatts of electricity, reported WSJ.

The second project, estimated to be worth around $2 billion, is a liquefied natural gas export facility on the Texas Gulf coast led by Sentinel Midstream, as per the publication.

Meanwhile Georgia will see a $600 million diamond grit manufacturing facility being set up with Japanese investments alongside that of Element Six, a synthetic diamond and tungsten carbide supermaterials company that is a subsidiary of De Beers.

These projects will be run in a joint-venture model: WSJ, citing US commerce department officials, said profits from the projects will be shared 50-50 until Japan’s initial investment is recouped. Subsequently, profits will be split 90-10 in favor of the US.

The long-awaited announcement of Japan's first major investments in the US marks a step forward for the trade and economic pact that Washington announced with Tokyo last year.

The announcement also comes weeks before Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is set to meet with the US President in Washington in March. The meeting is slated to be held on 19 March, as per Trump.