Trump says he did not ‘jump the gun’ on South Korea Alaska LNG investment announcement

By Nandita Bose and Timothy Gardner

Oct 2 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Friday he did not “jump the gun” on announcing a South Korean investment in Alaska LNG, a liquefied natural gas project that has been planned for decades but still lacks binding commitments.

Trump unveiled plans on Wednesday for South Korea to invest $200 billion in US projects, but Seoul quickly suggested one key element, a $54 billion pipeline for a long-planned LNG project in Alaska, was not yet set in stone.

“I didn’t jump the gun. I mean, they were there and they were represented. And let’s see, if they don’t want to do it, that’s okay with me. I’ll just charge them more,” he told reporters at the White House. 

Trump also said on Friday that the US trade deal with South Korea includes $8.4 billion for a project to push out crude from an aging oilfield, although state-supported Yonhap news agency reported that an official from Seoul’s industry ministry was surprised​ by the claim.

The official said the agreement is limited ​to what was in a joint fact sheet that Seoul and Washington released in November 2025. Press officials at the South Korea embassy in Washington could not be immediately reached for comment.

Trump’s push to steer the ​South Korean investment into Alaska LNG is putting a fresh focus on a project that would cost more than twice as much as a comparable US Gulf Coast plant.

The project involves constructing a pipeline stretching over 800 miles (​1,300 km) from the North Slope to an LNG liquefaction facility in Alaska’s southern port of Nikiski.

Trump said South Korea’s $200 billion investment would include the construction of eight large nuclear power plants, a natural gas pipeline and a 6-gigawatt power plant in Texas.

That announcement amounted to the first set of major projects under a broader $350 billion strategic investment package South Korea made as part of a trade agreement with Washington last year.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Daphne Psaledakis and Timothy Gardner; Writing by Timothy Gardner and Christian Martinez; editing by Michelle Nichols and Nia Williams)

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