Work Underway for Selecting U.S. Projects for Japanese Funding

Tokyo, Dec. 29 (Jiji Press)--Japanese and U.S. officials are working to select which projects in the United States will receive 550 billion dollars in investments and loans from Japan as part of a trade agreement that Tokyo and Washington struck in summer 2025.

Projects related to energy and artificial intelligence are considered to be likely candidates.

Japan aims to avoid high-risk projects while honoring its commitments to ensure that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump does not raise tariffs on Japan again that have been lowered under the trade agreement.

On Dec. 18, the consultation committee, a panel set up by the two governments to discuss recipient projects, held its first meeting online.

They discussed a list of candidate projects totaling about 400 billion dollars across the four areas of energy, power development for AI, strengthening AI infrastructure, and critical minerals that were outlined in the Joint Fact Sheet for Japan-U.S. Investment, released in October.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]