With the United States finalizing Japan's investment projects in the U.S., attention is turning to where Korea will decide to invest. As Japan's investment areas have been set as energy and infrastructure, there is an outlook that Korea will also present U.S.-bound investment projects in similar fields.
According to foreign media on the 18th, President Donald Trump on the 17th (local time) identified oil and gas projects in Texas, power plant construction in Ohio, and a critical minerals project in Georgia as Japan's first investment projects in the U.S.
Japan will invest $33 billion (about 48 trillion won) in Ohio to build natural gas power generation facilities. Through this, it plans to supply electricity to nearby artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
Japan will also invest $2.1 billion (about 3 trillion won) along the Texas coast to build a deepwater crude oil export facility. The United States expects this will enable annual crude oil exports worth $20 billion to $30 billion. In Georgia, it plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build an industrial diamond facility. This is expected to reduce U.S. dependence on China for critical minerals.
As Japan's U.S. investment projects concentrate in energy, resources, and infrastructure, similar areas are being discussed for Korea's U.S. investments. Nuclear power and power grid projects are being highlighted.
The United States currently has nuclear power plant design technology but limited construction capacity. However, it has set out plans to build 10 new nuclear power plants by 2030, raising the need for collaboration with Korea. In the power grid field as well, Korea is assessed to have competitiveness in high-voltage transmission technology, enabling synergies.
The Korean government plans to advance related discussions in earnest. On the 13th, the government held the first Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment memorandum of understanding (MOU) Implementation Committee, and will continue follow-up consultations at the working-level task force.
An official at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said, "We are closely monitoring Japan's investment push," and noted, "We are also in talks with the United States." However, the official said, "We can make a final decision only after the special law on U.S.-bound investment passes, so this is at the pre-review stage."
Meanwhile, Korea pledged last year during tariff negotiations with the United States to pursue U.S.-bound investments totaling $350 billion (about 505 trillion won). At the time, the two countries specified energy, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, AI, and quantum computing as promising areas for U.S.-bound investment in the Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment MOU.