Trump’s tariff strategy just landed its first major win, or at least that’s how the White House is spinning it. Japan has committed to pouring nearly $36 billion into American energy and mineral projects across three states, marking the opening act of what’s supposed to be a $550 billion investment marathon.
The deal comes on the heels of a trade agreement where Trump slashed tariffs on Japanese imports to 15%, and Tokyo agreed to bankroll American infrastructure. It’s the kind of quid pro quo that makes economists nervous but politicians giddy.
“Our MASSIVE Trade Deal with Japan has just launched!” Trump posted Tuesday, making sure everyone understood this was his doing. He credited tariffs as the magic word that made it all possible, though plenty of trade experts would argue Japan was simply trying to avoid getting hit with worse penalties.
The Big Money Goes to Ohio
The star of this investment show is a $33 billion natural gas facility in Portsmouth, Ohio. SoftBank’s energy subsidiary SB Energy is behind the project, which Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called “the largest natural gas generation facility in history.” At 9.2 gigawatts of capacity, it’s a monster.
That’s the kind of project that creates construction jobs, long-term employment, and gives politicians something concrete to point at during campaign season. Ohio’s been hungry for major industrial investments like this, especially in regions still recovering from manufacturing losses.
But let’s be real about what this is. Japan isn’t doing America a favor out of the kindness of its heart. These investments serve Japanese business interests while smoothing over trade tensions. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made that clear, noting the projects would bring “increased sales and business expansion for Japanese companies.”
Texas Gets an Oil Export Hub
The second major piece is a $2.1 billion deepwater crude oil export facility off the Texas coast. The Texas GulfLink project, developed by Dallas-based Sentinel Midstream, could generate up to $30 billion in annual U.S. crude exports once it’s running at full tilt.
Texas already dominates American oil production, so this feels like betting on a sure thing. The infrastructure investment helps Japanese companies secure reliable access to American crude while giving Texas another pipeline for its product.
It’s the kind of win-win that makes trade deals attractive in theory, even if the broader tariff framework makes free trade purists break out in hives.
Diamonds for Defense in Georgia
The smallest but perhaps most strategically interesting investment is $600 million for a synthetic diamond grit facility in Georgia. De Beers Group’s Element Six will operate the plant, producing materials critical for industrial manufacturing.
Diamond grit matters more than most people realize. Its hardness and wear resistance make it essential for precision manufacturing, and the Commerce Department flagged it as important for economic and national security. That’s code for “we don’t want to depend on China for this stuff.”
This kind of supply chain diversification has become a massive theme in business strategy since COVID exposed how fragile global production networks really are. Getting allies to build critical infrastructure domestically solves multiple problems at once.
The question nobody’s really asking yet is what happens when the next administration comes in with different ideas about tariffs and trade policy.
