South Korea is set to commission a foreign consulting firm to review the commercial rationality of the Alaska liquefied natural gas project, the first concrete step in Seoul's promised verification of a pledge Washington treats as settled.
The timing follows the Nov. 3 midterm elections, in which Democrats captured both the Senate and the House.
Trump stays president and keeps tariff authority, so the trade terms themselves don't change. Democrats take control of Congress in January, bringing tighter scrutiny of funding and permits.
Under last year's tariff deals, Japan promised $550B and South Korea $350B in US investments, about $900B together.
Japan Pledged More Than Korea in US Investment
Investment committed under 2025 tariff deals, $B, as of Nov. 4, 2026
Bar chart. Investment ($B). Japan: Investment ($B) $550. South Korea: Investment ($B) $350.
Reuters reported that both countries now have room to delay finalizing those pledges. The Alaska project would move gas roughly 1300 km by pipeline before liquefying it for export, and its economics have long been questioned.
Three projects are the live test
The nuclear program is the largest piece. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in September the plan covers eight large reactors at a total cost of $120B, split between $100B of core investment and a $20B contingency reserve, in Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Kentucky.
Seoul still plans to transfer up to $10B in advance payments before year's end to lock in long-lead equipment. Reactor vessels take 54 months to deliver, steam generators 57 months, and reactor coolant pumps 65 months.
Cameco, which owns 49% of Westinghouse, said in its third-quarter report that roughly $7.5B of that payment goes toward AP1000 reactor equipment.
Korea's first flagship build is a gas plant. The Texas gas plant project carries a total cost of $22.3B for 6472 MW of capacity feeding AI data centers.
That plant now faces a political wrinkle. Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat, pledged to suspend approvals for new data centers until state lawmakers write rules, and the Encinal plant exists to power an adjacent data center.
Japan's delays show how this plays out
Tokyo says it will keep the $550B commitment intact. Seven announced projects totaled roughly $130B as of the end of September, with $10.965B in approved loans signed across five of them.
One of the first, a $2.1B crude oil export terminal in Texas, stalled after an appeals court ruled on Aug. 12 that the Maritime Administration made serious procedural errors approving it.
Japan also commissioned Wood Mackenzie to assess Alaska LNG last year, and has leaned toward buying the gas rather than funding the pipeline.
Analysts expect pressure to rise, not fall.
Kazuhiro Maeshima, a Sophia University professor of US politics, cautioned that the tariff issue is not over and a slow Japanese response could revive calls for additional duties.
The scoreboard is construction starts, not press releases. Equipment orders tied to the $10B advance payment would be the first hard evidence that the nuclear program is moving past the memorandum stage, and Seoul hasn't yet confirmed sites or timelines. Delays carry a cost of their own, since advisory, design, and financing bills accrue before a single shovel moves.
