Japan commits $36bn to US projects

Japan will finance three major energy and industrial developments in the United States under a $550 billion investment pledge tied to a bilateral trade agreement, marking the first projects announced under the framework.

The Trump administration said the initiatives, valued at $36 billion, include a deepwater oil export facility in Texas, a synthetic industrial diamonds plant in Georgia and a natural gas-fired power station in Ohio. President Donald Trump said the investments followed a trade deal that reduced tariffs on Japanese imports to 15%. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the projects represented the first tranche of Japan’s broader commitment.

The largest component is a $33 billion natural gas power plant in Portsmouth, Ohio, which Lutnick described as the biggest gas-fired generating facility in history, with capacity of 9.2 gigawatts. The plant will be operated by SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group, and is intended to expand baseload generation amid rising electricity demand from data centres supporting artificial intelligence applications. In Texas, Japan will invest in the $2.1 billion GulfLink deepwater crude oil export terminal being developed by Sentinel Midstream. Lutnick said the facility could generate $20 billion to $30 billion annually in US crude exports and reinforce export capacity for refineries.

In Georgia, a $600 million high-pressure synthetic diamond manufacturing plant will be operated by Element Six, part of De Beers Group. The White House said the facility would meet all US demand for synthetic diamond grit, a key input in advanced manufacturing and semiconductor production, an area where the US currently relies largely on China.

Japanese participation will include equity, loans and guarantees from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance. Under an earlier agreement, profits are to be shared equally until Japan recoups its initial investment, after which the split shifts to 90-10 in favour of the US. Officials from both countries indicated further investment announcements are expected.