Some officials in South Korea say agreeing to the pipeline investment might placate the U.S., but Trump is still threatening tariffs.

Investors have balked at the project, stalling its progress. But under the threat of tariffs, Japan and South Korea have started exploring ways to invest in Alaska L.N.G.

Japan, South Korea and other countries want to partner with the United States in a "gigantic" natural gas pipeline in Alaska, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, claiming they would invest "trillions of dollars each.

Different versions of the Alaska LNG project have been discussed in Alaska for decades, and there are longstanding questions about how it would pencil out.

South Korea, a leading fossil fuel importer, has expressed interest in participating in a US$44 billion gas pipeline in Alaska in the form of a joint development between South Korea, the US and Japan,

South Korea and the United States have agreed to establish a working-level group to discuss a gas pipeline project in Alaska, energy, shipbuilding, tariffs and non-tariff barriers, South Korea's Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun said on Tuesday.

Alaska political leaders on Wednesday broadly welcomed President Donald Trump’s remarks to Congress talking up the prospects of the state’s long-sought but faltering natural gas pipeline. In his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, the president said, “It will be truly spectacular. It’s all set to go.”

The $44 billion Alaska LNG project, which U.S. President Donald Trump touted Japan, South Korea and other nations “want to invest trillions of dollars each,” involves constructing a 1,300-km pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to the southern coast.