U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said on the 2nd (local time) that a portion of investment by South Korea in the United States under the U.S.-South Korea tariff agreement will be used to build nuclear power plants in the country.

At a Cabinet meeting held at the White House that day, Secretary Lutnick, regarding where to allocate the total cash investment of $750 billion pledged by Japan and South Korea ($550 billion from Japan, $200 billion from South Korea), said, “For example, we will start with nuclear power.”

Secretary Lutnick stated, “We need to have a nuclear arsenal for power generation in the United States. So we will build it with the hundreds of billions of dollars funded by Japan and South Korea.”

This is interpreted to mean that part of the funds invested in the United States by South Korea and Japan will first be put into building nuclear power plants in the country. He added, “We will build here, and the cash flow will be divided 50-50.”

His remarks came as Cabinet members attending the meeting took turns highlighting their accomplishments to date.

At the session, President Trump said that until he imposed tariffs, other countries, including allies, were taking money out of the United States, identifying South Korea and Japan as such countries. He said, “I will not say country names. I will not mention Japan. I refuse to mention South Korea,” and added, “I will not name names, but they took us for sums at a level no one has ever experienced and exploited your country terribly, but now we are making tremendous money because of the torrents of tariffs.”

Earlier, in the investment memorandum of understanding (MOU) concluded with Japan, the United States specified as concrete projects the construction of large nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMR). President Lee Jae-Myung also said on the 14th of last month, when announcing the conclusion of the U.S.-South Korea negotiations, “The two countries will build a collaborative partnership at a level different from the past, from traditional strategic industries such as shipbuilding and nuclear power to future high-tech industries such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors.”

According to the MOU related to investments into the United States concluded by South Korea and the United States, the total investment amount is $350 billion, consisting of $200 billion in cash investment and $150 billion in shipbuilding cooperation investment that includes direct investment (FDI) by South Korean companies, guarantees, and ship finance. The distribution of investment returns will be shared 50-50 between South Korea and the United States until repayment of principal and interest, and will change to 1 (South Korea) to 9 (United States) after repayment of principal and interest.