US, Japan announce first tranche of USD 550 billion investments

The United States announced Tuesday a first tranche of investments by Japan out of a colossal USD 550 billion promised by Tokyo in its trade deal with President Donald TrumpThe commitments of USD 36 billion for three infrastructure projects came as Japancomes under pressure to deliver on its pledges made in 2025 in return for lower US trade tariffsJapan is now officially and financially moving forward with the FIRST set of Investments under its USD 550 BILLION Dollar Commitment to invest in the United States of America Trump wrote on his Truth Social platformThe scale of these projects are so large and could not be done without one very special word TARIFFS he wroteThe announcement came ahead of a scheduled trip by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to the White House next month following Trumps visit to Japan in OctoberTakaichi said Wednesday the projects would strengthen the JapanndashUS alliance by enabling Japan and the United States to jointly build resilient supply chains in strategically important areas for economic security such as critical minerals energy and AIdata centersWe believe these initiatives truly embody the purpose of this Strategic Investment Initiative namely the promotion of mutual benefit between Japan and the United States the enhancement of economic security and the promotion of economic growth Takaichi said on XGoing forward we will continue to work closely together between Japan and the United States to further refine the details of each project and ensure that they can be implemented promptly and smoothly she addedMassive trade winThe projects are a natural gas facility in Ohio a deepwater oil export facility in the Gulf of Mexico and a synthetic diamond manufacturing facilityUS Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick called the announcements the MASSIVE AMERICA FIRST TRADE WINThe natural gas generation facility will be the largest in history generating 92 gigawatts of power Lutnick said on XTakaichi said that it would supply electricity to AI data centers and similar facilitiesAt full capacity it would be the equivalent of nine nuclear reactors or the power consumed by about 74 million homes Bloomberg News reportedThe oil project will generate 20ndash30 billion annually in US crude exports and reinforce Americas position as the worlds leading energy supplier Lutnick saidThe facility making synthetic diamond grit where China dominates supplies will ensure that the United States is no longer reliant on foreign imports Lutnick saidJapan is providing the capital for all three projects The infrastructure is being built in the United States the US commerce secretary addedThe proceeds are structured so Japan earns its return and America gains strategic assets expanded industrial capacity and strengthened energy dominance he saidRebuild and expandIn July Tokyo had agreed to invest USD 550 billion through 2029 to rebuild and expand core American industries according to the White HouseThe pledge was made in exchange for reducing threatened US tariffs of 25 percent to 15 percent on Japanese importsJapanese Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa has said that only one to two percent of the USD 550 billion would be actual capitalThe rest will be made up of bonds and loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation JBIC and credits with public guaranteesThe clock has been ticking ahead of Takaichis planned White House visit on March 19 and according to media reports tempers were starting to frayIn January Trump told South Korea meant to invest 350 billion that he would raise tariffs because it was not living up to its DealAnalysts say that Japanese companies may be wary because of lack of clarity on the administrative and financial procedures and concerns about US labor shortagesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever