WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump said South Korea plans to invest approximately $54 billion in a natural gas project in Alaskaan announcement he made Wednesday in the Oval Office, alongside a Republican senator who found himself in a tough re-election race in the state.
It was the second time in three days that the president raised Senate candidates in states where Trump has won comfortably every time he has run for president — but where Republicans now find themselves in surprisingly competitive races just weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. On Monday, Trump made a similar announcement regarding a huge steel mill in Iowa.
On Wednesday, Trump repeatedly praised two-term and long-serving Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan. defender of the Alaska natural gas project who is facing a competitive challenge of Democrat Mary Peltola, a former member of Congress.
“He has my ear, and he has had my ear for a long time on Alaska,” Trump said of Sullivan, adding that “all of these energy projects are all mine, and I completed them working with Dan Sullivan.”
It was not immediately clear how quickly the South Korean government would advance funding for the project, which comes from pledges made under a 2025 action plan. trade agreement with South Koreawhich included promises of $350 billion in U.S. investment in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs on South Korean cars, auto parts and other products.
The project consists of a 1,300-kilometer natural gas pipeline connecting Alaska’s North Slope to a liquefied natural gas export terminal in southern Alaska. The White House said it would ultimately lower energy costs for state residents.
“Mr. President, this one is huge for Alaska,” Sullivan said, adding that he had worked on it “tirelessly.”
Peltola, Sullivan’s Democratic challenger, also praised the plan and Trump’s advocacy for it, saying she had been part of the bipartisan campaign to make it happen. “I look forward to continuing this bipartisan work with the President as Alaska’s next U.S. senator,” she said in a statement.
Trump hits the road to promote his administration’s actions
The push for big projects in areas where Republican candidates could get a boost comes as Trump approval ratings sank before midterm elections.
Even Trump himself has begun to acknowledge that Republicans could face an uphill climb in their efforts to retain control of both houses of Congress after November. “We need to turn the tide,” he said Wednesday, suggesting his administration has not done enough to promote his achievements.
“I did a very poor job of explaining,” the president said at a previous event in the East Room of the White House. He promised to try to remedy that situation by spending much of the next month campaigning on the road. He begins that swing Thursday with trips to Texas and Alabama, followed by Ohio on Saturday and Nebraska on Monday. All four are normally solidly red states.
Democrats target Alaska and Iowa
On Monday, Trump announced plans to a $15 billion steel plant will be built by a Minnesota company owned by an Indian industrial conglomerate in Iowa, where Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson is in a tight U.S. Senate race with Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek for the seat vacated by Republican Joni Ernst, who retired from two terms. Hinson spoke in the Oval Office during the announcement.
Democrats need to gain a net four seats in the 100-member Senate to overtake Republicans for a majority, and seats in Iowa and Alaska are among those they are targeting.
Trump announcements come as voters voice concerns near-record fuel prices related to unresolved issues war with Iran and as the majority Republicans in Congress face voters unhappy with Trump’s handling of the economy.
In a survey carried out at the end of July by Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Centeronly about a third of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, and about seven in 10 called the economy bad.
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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. AP writer Meg Kinnard contributed from Columbia, South Carolina.
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