President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a package of South Korean investments of up to $200 billion in U.S. energy projects. Seoul quickly stressed that parts of the plan are conditional and still being worked out.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said South Korea would fund a natural gas power plant in Texas, eight large nuclear reactors and a liquefied natural gas project in Alaska. In a later post on Truth Social, he said he had met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in New York and that the two had agreed to begin “a new $200 billion investment” in the U.S.
Trump said the money comes from the $350 billion “Korea Strategic Trade and Investment Deal” the two countries struck last year.
According to Trump’s post, the nuclear program is valued at $120 billion and would include six Westinghouse AP1000 reactors and two Korean-designed APR-1400 reactors. The Alaska LNG project is valued at $50 billion, and he wrote that the U.S. and South Korea “agreed to begin cooperating” on it. A 6.4-gigawatt natural gas plant in Encinal, Texas, would cost $22 billion.
Trump said the Alaska project could create 12,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent operating jobs. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said South Korea would invest slightly less than $200 billion across the three projects, with more than $50 billion going to Alaska LNG.
A joint U.S.-South Korean fact sheet released the same day was more cautious. It said the two sides agreed to begin reviewing the Alaska LNG project, subject to commercial viability under a strategic investment memorandum and to domestic legal requirements. While the Texas and nuclear projects include investment amounts and deal structures, the Alaska section contains no figures or structure. It lists only general commitments, such as participation by Korean companies and assurances on LNG purchase contracts.
Lee echoed that caution Thursday in a post on X. He said the countries had agreed to start “working-level” efforts on Alaska LNG on the condition that commercial viability is confirmed and South Korean legal procedures are followed. Seoul also holds that each nuclear plant must be commercially viable on its own, according to South Korean media. The two sides are reported to differ over issues including South Korea’s potential stake in Westinghouse.
The announcement follows last year’s trade agreement, under which Washington cut tariffs on South Korean goods from 25% to 15% in exchange for Seoul’s $350 billion investment pledge. Trump said Wednesday that South Korea is investing in return for the tariff relief and that part of the money will go to the Alaska project.
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Michelle Park Steel welcomed the deal Thursday on X, calling it a “historic” agreement that shows “what a true economic partnership looks like.” She said that “real implementation begins now” and that the embassy would “roll up our sleeves” to help.
