First batch only $2.2 billion — Japan's investment pledge to the U.S. shrinks by 94%

Is Japan being so blatantly dismissive toward Trump?

According to Bloomberg, on May 1, Japan's banking and lending institutions (primarily the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, JBIC) announced the initial loan investment amount pledged by Japan under the U.S.-Japan trade agreement — a mere $2.2 billion, far below the U.S. requirement of $36 billion, representing a reduction of approximately 94%.

It is understood that Japan’s first batch of loan investments includes three projects: an Ohio natural gas project, a Georgia synthetic diamond project, and a crude oil transportation/export project in the Gulf of Mexico.

But if Japan’s actual initial disbursement amounts to only $2.2 billion, then how much of its previously promised total investment of $550 billion over the entire duration of the agreement will actually be fulfilled remains a big question mark.

The U.S.-Japan trade agreement’s investment commitment is nearly certain to end up as a failure, because such large figures were clearly intended as symbolic gestures from the start. Trump, during his second term, was especially enthusiastic about promoting massive investment achievements, frequently announcing that the U.S. had secured hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign capital or was preparing to invest trillions in certain sectors — but many of these figures have been found through fact-checking to be exaggerated or even fabricated.

This “bluff before action” approach to investment commitments has precedent for failure. In 2017, during Trump’s first presidential term, he boldly announced that Saudi Arabia would invest $450 billion in the U.S., but that promise has yet to be fully realized.

Today, among countries that have signed similar investment agreements with the U.S., few are genuinely committed to fulfilling their pledges. For example, although South Korea has passed legislation establishing a legal framework for its $350 billion pledge to invest in the U.S., it has still not disclosed specific loan or project details, and implementation remains slow.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1863983037247500/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author