The United States has signed an historic trade deal with its strong ally and longtime trading partner Japan.
“Our massive trade deal with Japan has just launched,” President Trump announced on February 18 in a social media post. “The scale of these projects are so large, and could not be done without one very special word, tariffs,” he noted.
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the trade deal strengthens the Japan-U.S. alliance and are expected to bring increased opportunities for Japanese business.
“We believe these initiatives truly embody the purpose of this Strategic Investment Initiative, namely the promotion of mutual benefit between Japan and the United States, the enhancement of economic security, and the promotion of economic growth,” said the Prime Minister in a post on X.
President Trump has approved the first three projects under Japan’s $550 billion investment commitment to the United States as part of our historic U.S.–Japan trade deal.
These projects represent a $36 billion commitment in key sectors of the U.S economy -- power generation, oil and gas, and advanced manufacturing. “This is what strategic trade looks like,” said Secretary Lutnick.
In Ohio, together with Japan, the U.S. will develop the largest natural gas generation facility in history, generating 9.2 gigawatts of power. “We will strengthen grid reliability, expand baseload power, and support American manufacturing with affordable energy,” said Secretary Lutnick.
The U.S. will also build a critically important deepwater crude oil export facility in the Gulf of America. This project is expected to generate $20–30 billion annually in U.S. crude exports, secure export capacity for American refineries, and reinforce America’s position as the world’s leading energy supplier.
Finally, the U.S. will create synthetic industrial diamond manufacturing capacity in the United States which will onshore production 100 percent of U.S. demand for synthetic diamond grit, a critical input for advanced industrial and technological production. “We will no longer rely on foreign supply for this essential material.” said Secretary Lutnick.
“I am grateful to the President for his leadership and to the Government of Japan for their partnership,” said Secretary Lutnick. “The future has never been brighter.”