WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said some details of the Alaska liquefied natural gas project still need to be worked out with South Korea.
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on the 5th before departing for Alaska, Vance was asked whether the Alaska project was moving ahead despite Korea's denial that its investment had been finalized. He said there were clearly still some details to be discussed and that Korea had also mentioned that point.
The remarks struck a somewhat different tone from recent comments by President Donald Trump. Trump had said Korea agreed to invest more than $50 billion in the Alaska LNG project as part of its investment package in the U.S., and pressed Seoul by warning that it would face additional costs if it failed to follow through.
Vance stressed, however, that not only the U.S. but also Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries want the project to succeed, saying he believed the project would come to fruition. He also said demand for U.S. natural gas was so strong that he thought the deal could be completed.
Meanwhile, Trump visited Nebraska, part of the U.S. farm belt, and signed an executive order lifting restrictions on the use of red-dyed diesel, a tax-exempt fuel, through the end of the year.
In the U.S., red-dyed diesel is exempt from the 24-cent-per-gallon federal excise tax, and under the order it can be used in pickup trucks and other vehicles in addition to farm and construction equipment. Bloomberg noted, however, that only a limited number of gas stations sell red-dyed diesel, and that fuel costs for farmers who already rely on it could rise if more consumers seek it out.
Trump won Nebraska by margins of about 20 percentage points in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, but Republicans have been struggling in the state's recent Senate race. The average of three recent polls showed Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts at 46.3% and independent Dan Osborn at 44.7%.
