US Unveils First US$ 36 Bn Projects Under US$ 550 Bn Japan Trade Deal
The United States has launched the first set of investment projects under a newly announced trade agreement with Japan, with the White House unveiling initiatives worth US$ 36 billion as part of Tokyo’s broader US$ 550 billion commitment to invest in the US economy.
President Donald Trump described the pact as a massive trade deal, stating that it would help revitalise the American industrial base, generate hundreds of thousands of jobs and strengthen national and economic security. As part of the agreement, the US will reduce tariffs on Japanese imports to 15%.
The initial projects span energy, power generation and advanced manufacturing across Texas, Ohio and Georgia.
The largest of the three is a US$ 33 billion natural gas-fired power plant in Portsmouth, Ohio. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the facility would generate 9.2 GW of electricity annually, calling it the largest gas-fired power project in US history. According to Lutnick, the plant’s output would exceed the total residential electricity demand of Ohio.
The project will be operated by SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group. The additional baseload capacity comes at a time when electricity demand in the US is rising sharply, driven in part by data centres supporting artificial intelligence applications.
A second major investment involves Japan’s backing of the US$ 2.1 billion Texas GulfLink deepwater crude oil export terminal off the Texas coast. The offshore facility is being developed by Sentinel Midstream, which confirmed its participation and said it was honoured to partner with the US Department of Commerce and the Japanese government. The terminal is expected to strengthen US crude export capabilities.
The third project is a US$ 600 million synthetic industrial diamond manufacturing plant in Georgia. The facility will be operated by Element Six, a unit of De Beers Group. Officials said the plant would meet 100% of US demand for synthetic diamond grit, a key material used in advanced manufacturing and semiconductor production. The United States currently relies heavily on imports, particularly from China, for such supplies.
While the projects mark the first tranche under Japan’s $550 billion investment pledge, details regarding the financing structure remain unclear. Under an earlier US-Japan understanding, profits from joint ventures were to be split equally until Japan’s initial investment was recovered, after which the share would shift to 90–10 in favour of the United States.
The announcements followed recent meetings between Lutnick and Japan’s economic and trade minister, Ryosei Akazawa, who had indicated that certain issues were still being finalised before formal agreements could be concluded.
The deal signals a deepening of economic cooperation between Washington and Tokyo, linking tariff relief with large-scale strategic investments in energy and advanced manufacturing.
