She’s bringing the gift of investment.
Japan pledged to invest $73 billion in American next-generation nuclear reactor and gas-fired power plant projects Thursday after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s White House meeting with President Trump.
The investment marks the start of the second phase of Japan’s $550 billion spending commitment on American projects, which Trump secured through a massive trade agreement last summer after threatening the US ally with 25% tariffs.
The latest batch of investment will see Japan spend $40 billion on the construction of small modular reactors (SMRs) by GE Vernova Hitachi in Tennessee and Alabama; $17 billion on natural gas generation facilities in Pennsylvania; and $16 billion on natural gas generation facilities in Texas.
“The groundbreaking commercial deployment of the advanced SMRs in the US will serve as a tremendous next-generation stable power source, stabilizing electricity prices for American people and strengthening the Japan-U.S. leadership in global technological competition,” read a joint announcement.
“The two natural gas generation facilities will play a critical role in meeting the rapidly growing electricity demand and in reinforcing Japan-U.S. cooperation in building supply chain in important strategic areas of economic security,” the statement continued, noting that some of the power generated by the new facilities will supply “co-located data centers.”
The projects “possess significant potential in ensuring economic security and accelerating economic growth of both countries, thereby paving the way for a New Golden Age of the ever-growing Japan-U.S. Alliance.”
Japan had previously announced that it would invest $36 billion for a natural gas plant in Ohio, a crude oil export facility along the US Gulf Coast and a synthetic diamond manufacturing site in Georgia as part of the first batch of spending under the trade agreement framework.
Trump has said the US “will receive 90% of the Profits,” from Japan’s investments.
The Supreme Court struck down the president’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs last month, but the Trump administration has launched trade investigations into Japan and several other countries that could result in new tariffs.
