President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met on September 22, 2026, in New York to discuss the implementation of a $350 billion bilateral investment agreement. The deal, initiated in July 2025, includes $200 billion for strategic sectors and $150 billion for shipbuilding.
The first approved project is a $22.3 billion gas-fired power plant in Encinal, Texas. The facility will generate 6.3 gigawatts of electricity to support AI data centers and semiconductor manufacturing. Two other initiatives, involving nuclear reactors and an Alaska LNG pipeline, are currently under review.
Under the agreement, US tariffs on South Korean goods are reduced from 25% to 15%. To protect South Korea's foreign exchange reserves, the parties established an annual investment cap of $20 billion. The South Korean parliament passed the necessary implementing legislation on March 12, 2026.
