The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has made public an agreement whereby Taiwan will allocate 4.4 billion dollars (3.925 billion euros) to a large gas infrastructure project in Alaska and will commit to acquiring 30% of the gas transported by this pipeline over the next 20 years.
During a rally held in Alaska in the midst of the campaign for the midterm elections on November 3, the Republican leader presented the pact as "one of the largest commitments in history" and emphasized that the continued supply of gas over two decades "guarantees the success" of the operation.
The capital contribution from Taiwan adds to the 50 billion dollars (44.6 billion euros) already previously committed by South Korea for this same project. Trump highlighted the decisive role of Republican Senator from Alaska Dan Sullivan in negotiating and closing the agreement.
In his speech, the president took the opportunity to criticize previous Washington administrations for allowing the outsourcing of the semiconductor industry by refusing to impose tariffs, which, he claimed, facilitated Taiwan accumulating "a lot of money" by taking over the chip business. Before his supporters, he defended that this trend is reversing and assured that there are currently "21 trillion dollars (18.7 trillion euros)" allocated to new factories and industrial plants on U.S. territory.
A macro energy project for Alaska
The investment announced by Taiwan is part of a broad energy infrastructure plan promoted by the Trump Administration at the beginning of the month. These funds are in addition to those already committed by South Korea to develop the liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline in Alaska, known as 'Project North'.
This project is expected to create about 12,000 direct jobs during the construction phase and aims to lower the energy bill for households in Alaska. It is part of a South Korean investment package valued at 200 billion dollars (178.4 billion euros), which also includes the installation of eight large nuclear reactors spread across the United States and the construction of a natural gas plant in Texas.
The announcement calendar of these large projects coincides with the final stretch of the campaign for the 'midterms', allowing Trump to showcase economic results and boost key candidates from his party in very tight races, including Dan Sullivan himself, who aims to revalidate his seat against former Democratic congresswoman Mary Peltola.
Conditions and nuances from South Korea
For the moment, the authorities of Taiwan have not issued an official position on this announcement. Instead, the president of South Korea, Jae Myung Lee, already introduced nuances in early October, when Trump began promoting these investments, emphasizing that their execution is subject to certain "preconditions".
In particular, the South Korean leader specified that both the Alaska pipeline and the nuclear power plant projects must first demonstrate their "commercial viability" and comply with the legal procedures established by Seoul. Additionally, he proposed a strict profit-sharing scheme of 50% between both parties until the total invested capital along with the corresponding interests is recovered.