WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced plans Wednesday to invest about $54 billion in South Korea to export natural gas from Alaska, a project long supported by Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is in a re-election contest there.
Watch the announcement in the video player above.
It’s the second time in three days that the president has sought to highlight the promise of foreign investment made possible by his administration’s trade policies in states where Republican Senate candidates are in tight election campaigns. Trump made a similar announcement Monday in the Oval Office regarding a massive steel mill in Iowa.
WATCH: Trump announces new steel mill project in Iowa
“He has my ear, and he has had my ear for a long time in Alaska,” Trump said during an Oval Office event with Sullivan. The president added that “all of these energy projects are all mine, and I accomplished them working with Dan Sullivan.”
It was not clear how soon the South Korean government would approve the project or how much it planned to spend.
The investment follows promises made under a 2025 trade deal with South Korea, which 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.
Without providing those details, Trump credited his tariffs with making the announcement possible, saying that “our trade deal with South Korea, they have to invest hundreds of billions of dollars.”
“For that, I reduced their tariffs to 15%. But they paid to reduce them,” Trump said. “And some of that money is going to this project.”
Trump hits the road to promote his administration’s actions
Sullivan said “the sky is the limit when we do this project.”
“Mr. President, this one is huge for Alaska,” Sullivan said, adding that he had worked on it “tirelessly.”
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 and will ultimately lower energy costs for state residents by providing a reliable and secure supply, the White House said.
Officials said at the Oval Office event that construction of the pipeline would take three years and liquefied natural gas exports would begin two years after that — but that was dependent on full funding.
The push for big projects in areas where Republican candidates could get a boost comes as Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a near-historic low ahead of the midterm elections.
LEARN MORE: How the phrase “Lower 48” became a staple of Alaska’s high-stakes Senate race
Even Trump himself has begun to acknowledge that Republicans may face difficulties in their efforts to retain control of both houses of Congress after November, but suggests that is because his administration has not done enough to promote his achievements.
“I did a very poor job of explaining,” the president said at an event in the East Room of the White House, preceding the later announcement on the Alaska investment.
He has promised to help remedy that situation by spending much of the next 30 days on the road, campaigning ahead of the midterm elections — although he is starting that shift with trips to Texas, Alabama, Ohio and Nebraska, all of which are normally solidly red states.
“I hope you can believe I’m showing up. They like to say, ‘Oh, no one wants him.’ Well, everyone who gets me wins,” Trump told the crowd at the Hispanic Heritage Month event. “We lose 40% when I don’t run. When I run, we have huge success.”
Sullivan, who has been a persistent advocate for the Alaska natural gas project and encouraged South Korean investment, is a two-term senator facing a competitive challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman.
Democrats target Alaska and Iowa
Wednesday’s event in Alaska came two days after Trump announced plans to build a $15 billion steel plant in Iowa by a Minnesota company owned by an Indian industrial conglomerate.
In Iowa, 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.
Alaska and Iowa, where Trump has won comfortably each time he has run for president, are among the states where Democrats are targeting Republican Senate seats in the 2026 midterm elections, less than five weeks away.
Democrats need to win a net four seats in the 100-member Senate to overtake Republicans in the majority.
Voters are concerned about the price of fuel
Trump’s announcements come as voters express concerns over near-record fuel prices linked to the unresolved war with Iran and as the Republican majority in Congress faces voters unhappy with Trump’s handling of the economy.
In a late July poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only about a third of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, and about seven in 10 called the economy bad.
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
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