Trump says the price of a lower tariff is hundreds of billions of dollars in investment, and he put the number on Alaska LNG at $54 billion.
The new detail on Wednesday's announcement: President Trump said the deal is part of a trade agreement in which the U.S. would lower South Korea's tariff rate to 15 percent in exchange for hundreds of billions of dollars in investment. Earlier, we reported that Trump announced South Korea's government will invest up to $200 billion in U.S. energy infrastructure.
The package, per Trump's remarks in the Oval Office, includes a natural gas pipeline in Alaska, a natural gas plant in Texas and eight new nuclear power plants across the country. The terms come from Trump's own remarks. No independent confirmation of the details is in the source material.
Trump singled out the Alaska pipeline, known as Alaska LNG because it would transport liquefied natural gas. He pitched it as a way to export more gas.
The United States is already the largest natural gas producer and exporter in the world, and this pipeline will help us expand those exports even further,
he said. Alaska LNG is described as an 807-mile project. It is expected to receive a $54 billion investment from Korea.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) was in the room, and Trump touted his involvement. Sullivan is running to retain his seat against several candidates, including former Rep. Mary Peltola (D). A pipeline announcement in the Oval Office, with the incumbent present, is convenient timing for him.
The figure is a ceiling: "up to" $200 billion. Nothing in the source says when any of it is due.