Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks about Alaska natural gas at an event Wednesday in the White House. President Donald Trump, seated, announced what he said was a deal with the Republic of Korea to invest in the Alaska liquefied natural gas project. Korean officials, however, said the government has not committed to invest in the project but only to continue to examine it. Behind Trump and Sullivan are U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. (Screenshot from White House video)
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he had secured a deal with the Republic of Korea to spend $54 billion on a long-desired Alaska natural gas pipeline project, part of a $200 billion package of investments that include a major power plant in Texas and several nuclear power plants.
South Korea’s trade minister quickly shot down that claim, saying the government is simply reviewing the Alaska project and will proceed with investment “only if its commercial viability is established,” the Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper reported.
Trump spoke in glowing terms of an Alaska liquefied natural gas project as a sure accomplishment — even though half a century of efforts by state and federal officials and the energy industry have failed to make the project a reality, and even though Korean officials have disputed his claim that they are committed to investing in it.
“This alone will be one of the largest energy projects in American history and a gigantic win for the people of Alaska,” Trump said at the event, held in the White House’s Oval Office. “It will create up to 12,000 construction jobs immediately and 1,000 operational jobs. It’ll also save Alaska households up to $1,500, maybe even as much as $2,200 a year in energy costs. It’s amazing.”
The Alaska LNG investment is part of a “colossal package of investments” stemming from his trade and tariff policies that make “a major step toward securing our critical energy supply chain, ensuring American energy dominance, and making our partnership with South Korea and the entire Pacific region stronger than ever before,” Trump said.
South Korea’s industry, trade and resources minister quickly shot down Trump’s claim about securing $54 billion for the Alaska project. Minister Kim Jung-kwan said the Korean government is simply reviewing the Alaska project and will proceed with investment “only if its commercial viability is established,” the Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper reported.
Trump made the announcement while flanked by a crowd of men that included three cabinet members, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and U.S. Sen. Dan Sulivan, R-Alaska, and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska. Also in the group was Brendan Duval, chief executive of the Glenfarne Group, the investment company leading the current proposal for a natural gas project in Alaska.
The current proposal is to ship gas from the North Slope through a yet-to-be-built 807-mile pipeline from the North Slope to tidewater at Southcentral Alaska’s Cook Inlet, where it would be liquefied and put on tankers for shipment to Asian markets.
Alaska’s North Slope holds vast amounts of natural gas along with its oil resources. But geographic distance and costs have kept that natural gas stranded from markets, despite numerous schemes proposed over the years to build different types of pipeline systems to ship the product to either Asia or to the Lower 48.
The natural gas pipeline has been a perennial issue in Alaska elections, including this year’s U.S. Senate race, which is hotly contested. The energy investments Trump announced also affect Texas, another state where there is a competitive Senate race.
Trump and others who spoke at the ceremony spent much of their time praising Sullivan, whom he called “a great senator who is totally responsible for this pipeline,” and urging that he be reelected.
Sullivan is facing a stiff challenge from former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who led in votes in the primary election. But Trump spent much of his time at Wednesday’s Oval Office event talking about retired Petersburg teacher Dan S. Sullivan, the third U.S. Senate candidate on the Alaska ballot whose candidacy has been challenged by state election officials.
“That Dan Sullivan is a disgraceful fraud,” Trump said.
“It’s so corrupt. The Democrats are corrupt. . . When they put up a man with his exact name, they picked him out of a hat. They said, ‘Anybody named Dan Sullivan in Alaska?”
Trump has said he is planning to come to Alaska to campaign for the senator and against the Petersburg candidate.
Sullivan, in turn, praised Trump and also described the natural gas pipeline projects as if it is a sure thing.
“Mr. President, I would say this is the most important project in our state by far,” he said. “This is the project that is going to keep our kids and grandkids in Alaska, with a great, bright future. This is the project that our state has been working on to try to get done for almost a half century.”
Positive reaction, and also skepticism
Peltola, whom Trump did not mention but who finished 8.1 percentage points ahead of Sen. Sullivan in Alaska’s Aug. 18 open primary, issued a statement saying she welcomes Korean investment in the gas project.
She cited “bipartisan work” she did in the state legislature and Congress and said she will continue to do that work if elected to the Senate. “Today’s announcement is great news for Alaska, and I appreciate President Trump’s work to unleash Alaska energy. I look forward to continuing this bipartisan work with the President as Alaska’s next United States Senator,” she said in the statement.
Also issuing a positive statement was former State Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a Democrat running for governor.
“Alaska should welcome foreign investment that helps responsibly develop our resources, creates good-paying jobs, and builds new markets for Alaska’s natural gas,” Kreiss-Tomkins said in the statement, in which he describes himself as “an enthusiastic champion” of the gas project. “I’m thrilled to see President Trump’s support, and interest from South Korea, for moving this project forward,” he said.
However, the statements made by Trump, Sullivan and others on Wednesday differ vastly from the position articulated by the Republic of Korea government, according to news reports in that nation.
The Korean government is not committing to spending any money on Alaska LNG, a project it considers to be a matter for further consultation, according to Korean publications. The actual commitment to Alaska LNG, as described in a memorandum of understanding, is to ‘explore the possibility of investment’ in the project, “while stopping short of making any binding financial commitment,” according to Korean reports.
June 9, 2011)
Additionally, a law in Korea enacted earlier this year limits government investment in the U.S. to $20 billion a year.
One Alaska lawmaker pointed to the information from Korea as a reason to be skeptical about Trump’s announcement.
State Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, noted that Korea’s president had not backed Trump’s account.
Rather, Trump’s announcement seemed like one in a series of “boisterous” statements about things that people want, with details not provided, Kawasaki said.
“I think that, again, this is another bold pronouncement from a president who’s been known for making bold pronouncements but not following through,” he said.
It reminded him of Trump’s promise to build a wall at the Mexico border and make the Mexican government pay for it, Kawasaki said. “That never happened,” he said.
And he cautioned Alaskans against raising their expectations based on Trump’s announcement.
“I don’t want to tell the public and my voters that are just struggling, you know, trying to make ends meet that, ‘Don’t worry, the pipeline’s coming tomorrow; don’t worry, your gas problems are going to be solved overnight,’ because that’s just not going to happen,” he said.
Trump, in addition to making claims that are at odds with the Korean government’s public positions, made other questionable statements.
“For five decades, politicians have talked about the Alaska pipeline. I’ve been hearing about it from the time I’m a little boy: ‘The Alaska pipeline is going to be built someday.’ I was always fascinated by it,” he said.
It was unclear whether he was talking about the existing Trans Alaska Pipeline System, which has been shipping North Slope crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez since 1977, or the proposed gasline project. Discussions about either pipeline began after oil was discovered at Prudhoe Bay in 1968, when Trump, who is now 80, was 21.
Trump also claimed that he won the presidential vote in Alaska by 22 percentage points. His margin of victory in Alaska in 2024 was 13.1 percentage points.
Wednesday’s announcement about Korean investment comes as part of a decades-long history of highly touted international agreements aimed at developing North Slope natural gas.
Those date back to 1977, when the U.S. and Canada struck a deal to develop an overland system that was to deliver natural gas to the Lower 48.
Other agreements were promoted in the 1980s and 1990s. At the time Yukon Pacific Corp., which ultimately held federal and state permits to build an LNG export project, was actively negotiating with would-be Asian partners and buyers. During the time, Yukon Pacific announced agreements with potential partners in Korea and Taiwan.
There were bold pronouncements about exports made during that era that were similar to those made in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
“ALASKA GAS IS POISED FOR EXPORT TO ASIANS,” said a headline in the Jan. 11, 1988, issue of the Journal of Commerce. The story referred to efforts by President Ronald Reagan and Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita to try to secure that Asian country as a partner in the Alaska LNG project.
Other international negotiations and agreements followed.
In 2008, for example, the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, also known as Sinopec, submitted a formal proposal to the administration of Gov. Sarah Palin to build an LNG project with a pipeline running along the existing oil pipeline’s route from the North Slope to the port of Valdez.
Nine years later, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation — which became the main sponsor of the project — and the state announced a “Joint Development Agreement” with Sinopec and other would-be partners from China. Along with Sinopec, parties to the agreement were CIC Capital Corporation and the Bank of China. It was “the most significant step forward for Alaska LNG,” AGDC said at the time.
The signing of that agreement was witnessed by Trump in his first administration during a trip to China, according to AGDC’s account.
In February of 2025, Trump announced a “joint venture” with Japan on Alaska LNG in terms similar to those he used on Wednesday to describe what he said was a commitment for Korean investment.
At the time, Sullivan praised Trump in terms similar to those he used on Wednesday.
“With his leadership, we will get the Alaska LNG Project built, which will create thousands of good-paying jobs, reinvigorate our American steel industry, significantly reduce our trade deficit in Asia, and deliver clean-burning Alaska gas for Americans, our military, and our allies in the Asia-Pacific, like Japan,” Sullivan said in a statement then.
Courtesy of Alaska Beacon
