WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday plans for South Korea to invest roughly $54 billion to export natural gas from Alaska, a project long backed by Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who's in a competitive reelection contest there.
It marks 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 policy in states where Republican Senate
candidates are in tight election campaigns.
Trump made a similar announcement on Monday in the Oval Office for a massive steel plant in Iowa.
“He’s got my ear, and he’s had my ear for a long time on Alaska," Trump said during an Oval Office event with Sullivan. The president added that "all these energy projects are all mine, and I got ’em done working with Dan Sullivan.”
It was not clear how quickly South Korea's government would approve the project and how much it planned to spend.
The investment comes from pledges made as part of a 2025 trade deal with South Korea, which included promises of $350 billion in U.S. investments in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs on South Korean cars, auto parts and other products.
Without providing those details, Trump credited his tariffs for making the announcement possible, saying “our trade agreement with South Korea, they have to invest hundreds of billions of dollars.”
“For doing that, I reduced their tariffs to 15%. But they paid to get them reduced,” Trump said. "And, part of that money is going into this project.”
Sullivan said “the sky is the limit when we get this project done.”
“Mr. President, this one is huge for Alaska,” Sullivan said, adding that he'd been working on it “relentlessly.”
The project consists of an 807-mile (1,300-kilometer) natural gas pipeline connecting Alaska’s North Slope to a liquified natural gas export terminal in southern Alaska and eventually will reduce energy costs for the state’s residents by providing a reliable and secure supply, the White House said.
Officials said during the Oval Office event that building the pipeline will take three years and that exports of liquified natural gas would begin two years after that — but that was dependent on financing coming through fully.
The push to deliver big projects in areas where GOP candidates could use a boost comes as Trump's approval ratings have sunk to nearly historic lows ahead of midterm elections.
Even Trump himself has begun acknowledging that Republicans could face an uphill climb in their push to retain control of both chambers of Congress after November, but suggests it is because his administration hasn't done enough to promote its accomplishments.
“I’ve done a very bad job of explaining," the president said during an event in the White House's East Room, which came before the subsequent announcement on the Alaska investment.
He's promised to help rectify that by spending much of the next 30 days on the road, campaigning ahead of the midterms — though he is beginning that swing with trips to Texas, Alabama, Ohio and Nebraska, which are all normally solidly red states.
“I hope you can believe that I’m running. They like to say, ‘Oh, nobody wants him.’ Well, everybody that has 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 tremendous success."
Sullivan, who has been a persistent advocate for the Alaska natural gas project and has encouraged South Korean investment, is a two-term senator facing a competitive challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman.
Wednesday's Alaska event came two days after Trump announced plans for a $15 billion steel plant to be built in Iowa by a Minnesota company owned by an Indian industrial conglomerate.
In Iowa, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson is in a close U.S. Senate contest with Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek for the seat being vacated by retiring two-term Republican Joni Ernst. Hinson spoke in the Oval Office during the announcement.
Alaska and Iowa, where Trump won comfortably each time he has run for president, are among the states where Democrats are targeting Republican-held Senate seats in the 2026 midterm elections, less than five weeks away.
Democrats need to gain a net of four seats in the 100-member Senate to overtake Republicans in the majority.
Trump's announcements come as voters express concern about near-record fuel prices related to the unresolved war with Iran and as majority Republicans in Congress are facing voters dissatisfied with Trump's handling of the economy.
In a late-July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only about one-third of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, and about 7 in 10 described the economy as poor.
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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
