Recent high-level trade deals between the US and three of its biggest trade partners look set to further strengthen the country’s position as the world’s top LNG exporter, even if the results ultimately fall short of the lofty targets announced. The EU, Japan and South Korea secured a reduced tariff of 15% on their exports to the US in exchange for pledges to allocate hundreds of billions of dollars to investments in the US and purchases of US energy products during President Donald Trump’s second term. Many details still have to be ironed out given that the Trump administration and the other parties involved in the talks provided different interpretations of just what it was they agreed to. But commitments to buy more US LNG were central to all three deals, and it’s likely that the counterparties will put some effort into promoting imports to stay in Trump’s good graces, even if actual purchases end up below the pledged levels, as was the case during Trump’s first term. The US-EU trade deal was the largest of the three, with the 27-nation bloc committing to buy $750 billion worth of US energy — LNG, nuclear fuel and crude oil — over three years and to invest some $600 billion in the US and buy more US weapons. Tokyo agreed to a combined $550 billion in the form of investments, loans and guarantees, while Seoul agreed to invest $350 billion in the US, of which $150 billion would be allocated to cooperation to revive the US shipbuilding industry and $100 billion to purchases of US energy products, including LNG.
AloJapan.com