The Trump administration said on Wednesday that South Korea would invest up to $200 billion in a variety of power projects in the United States, including a power generation facility in Texas, eight nuclear power plants and a liquefied natural gas facility in Alaska. They are part of a slate of projects announced by the White House as it tries to bolster its economic record in the run-up to the midterm elections in November. Alaska is one of several red states that Democrats have targeted to try to win back control of the Senate. Senator Dan S. Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, got fewer votes than his Democratic challenger, Mary Peltola, in the state’s nonpartisan primary last month.
The announcement stemmed from a commitment by South Korea to invest $350 billion in the United States as part of a trade deal last year. But many experts have questioned whether South Korea will be able to fulfill that commitment, which would more than triple the country’s current investments in the United States. As of 2025, data from the Commerce Department showed that foreign direct investment from South Korea totaled $95 billion. The South Korean government has said its investments would be based on the economic feasibility of the projects.
There are also questions about the viability of the Alaska project, which has long been considered but not yet been formally approved by the developer. The project, Alaska L.N.G., is meant to solve what is — at least on paper — a simple problem. Alaska produces a lot of natural gas on the North Slope that would be very valuable, if only companies could move the gas to where there was demand for it. Companies have been batting around versions of this idea for decades. The problem has always been that such an undertaking would be very expensive.
Brendan Duval, chief executive of the project’s lead developer, Glenfarne, expressed optimism about the project on Wednesday. “The pipeline is going to take three years, and we can start immediately as soon as this financing funds,” Mr. Duval said at the White House. “And then the L.N.G. we’ll start exporting roughly two years after that.” What he didn’t say was that Glenfarne has yet to formally decide whether to move forward with Alaska L.N.G. The company had expected to greenlight the pipeline portion by earlier this year, but that deadline came and went. A proposed state tax break for the project later failed to gain sufficient support from Alaska lawmakers.
Källa: New York Times Business · Sammanfattat av HeadlinesBriefing