Trump unveils first Japan investments under trade deal with US

The US and Japan unveiled the debut projects of a US$550 billion investment fund, pressing ahead with a trade and economic pact in the weeks before Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is set to meet US President Donald Trump.Trump said that the first tranche of money would go towards an Ohio gas power plant, a critical minerals site in Georgia and a liquefied natural gas facility in Texas in a social media post on Tuesday.The announcement did not specify how the projects would be financed or which companies would be involved.“The scale of these projects are so large, and could not be done without one very special word, TARIFFS,” Trump said online.The selection comes after a joint panel first met in December to consider projects, which are ultimately selected by Trump himself based on recommendations from an investment committee he established, along with input from Japanese officials.The fund is meant to spur a wave of Japanese investment in key US industries and was a central pillar of a tariff deal struck last year, where the US president agreed to set levies at 15 per cent on imports from Japan, lowering the tariff for cars, a critical driver for Japan’s economy.