Alaskan state representatives led by the governor and including energy officials are due to visit South Korea on Tuesday, amid expectations of talks with U.S. allies in Asia to revive a stalled natural gas project touted by President Donald Trump.
Governor Mike Dunleavy’s delegation will include officials from the Glanfarne Group that is a partner in the project to transport gas from Alaska’s remote north via a $44 billion pipeline and the state gas agency, the main U.S. business lobby in Seoul said.
“Discussions over expanding energy cooperation between the two countries are scheduled,” the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) said in a statement.
The officials are due to meet senior South Korean officials and leaders of major businesses for discussions on key industrial sectors including energy, infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing, it said.
Trump has sought to shore up the gas project and called for the participation of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan that are seen as potential buyers of the gas that would be transported through the 1,300-km (800 mile) pipeline.
South Korea has already said it would be actively involved in discussions over the project.
South Korea, a major exporter of steel, autos and electric vehicle batteries to the United States, has been bracing for Trump’s plan to impose tough tariffs on countries that have trade surpluses in bilateral U.S. trade.
Trump, who has directed his team to prepare reciprocal tariff plans by early April, has said South Korea’s average tariff was four times higher than the rate imposed by the United States.
Seoul has disputed Trump’s assertion. South Korea’s trade ministry said the country’s effective tariff rate on U.S. imports was 0.79% as nearly all import duty was eliminated under the free trade agreement signed first in 2007.
Dunleavy’s delegation was expected to be in South Korea through Wednesday.
Meetings with South Korea’s acting president and industry minister as well as with the heads of the state gas corporation, the SK and Hanwha conglomerates and POSCO International were planned, AMCHAM said.
The Alaska governor’s office declined to comment on his schedule.
(Reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Tim Kelly in Tokyo Editing by Ed Davies)