When President Donald Trump sat down to lunch with his Japanese counterpart this month, talk turned quickly to how Tokyo could help realise a decades-old proposal to unlock gas in Alaska and ship it to U.S. allies in Asia.
Trump and his energy tsar Doug Burgum framed the venture as a way for Japan to replace Middle East energy shipments and address its trade imbalance with the U.S., according to two officials briefed on the closed-door talks.
Japanese premier Shigeru Ishiba – eager to ensure a positive first meeting and stave off damaging U.S. tariffs – struck an optimistic note about the Alaska LNG project despite Tokyo’s doubts about its viability.
Ishiba told Trump and Burgum that he hoped Japan could participate in the $44 billion project, said the officials, granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.
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