Trade minister Ryosei Akazawa will travel to Washington on Wednesday to discuss the first project to be financed by Japan as part of a $550 billion commitment made in the course of trade negotiations last year.<\/p>\n
He will hold discussions with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on \u201cstructuring a first project,\u201d Akazawa said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Negotiators from Japan and the United States have held four online discussions since December about implementation of the $550 billion pledge. No announcements about specific projects have been made by either country.<\/p>\n
As part of a trade deal reached on July 22, Japan agreed to commit $550 billion to critical industries and technologies in the United States, in exchange for lower tariffs on Japanese automobiles and other products.<\/p>\n
Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding signed in early September, projects are recommended by an investment committee chaired by Lutnick, before being approved by U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Japan will provide input on the feasibility of candidate projects through a consultation process before the projects are presented to the president. All investments need to be made before Trump\u2019s term in office ends.<\/p>\n
Japanese media have reported over the past week that Japan and the United States are ironing out the details of three shortlisted projects: a $40 billion power plant for data centers involving SoftBank Group and GE Vernova, a $2 billion deepwater port for crude oil exports, and a $500 million synthetic diamond plant.<\/p>\n
Akazawa will return to Japan on Saturday.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, he declined to comment on any of the press reports regarding specific projects and declined to say whether any sort of announcement related to the $550 billion pledge will be made during his trip to Washington.<\/p>\n