Trump and South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung hail progress on $350B investment deal

After more than a year of handshakes, headlines, and not much else, the US-South Korea investment mega-deal finally has something to show for itself. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 22 and announced what both sides are calling “significant progress” on implementing their $350 billion bilateral investment and trade agreement. The centerpiece: a $22.3 billion gas-fired power plant in Encinal, Texas, designed to generate 6.3 gigawatts of electricity for AI data centers and semiconductor manufacturing facilities. From framework to foundation The deal was originally set in motion back in July 2025, when the two countries agreed on a broad framework that would see South Korea pour capital into US strategic projects in exchange for tariff relief. Under the terms, US tariffs on South Korean goods drop from 25% to 15%, a meaningful discount for Korean exporters who had been absorbing punishing levies. The total package breaks down into $200 billion earmarked for strategic sectors and $150 billion for shipbuilding cooperation. To keep the arrangement from draining South Korea’s foreign ex...