Standing with Trump, Japanese billionaire promises major US investments

With President-elect Donald Trump presenting America as a great place to do business, companies around the world are figuring out how to answer his call.

Japanese tech billionaire Masayoshi Son, a colorful character known for his major flops as well as his big achievements, offered a way out on Monday, appearing with Trump at a press conference and vowing to raise $500 million over four years. Promised to invest ₹100 billion (£79 billion) and build 100,000. Jobs.

“He’s a great negotiator,” the CEO said, laughing on stage, when Trump pressured him to double down on his commitment.

But plenty of questions remain about Mr. Son’s venture, especially in light of the lack of details he provided and his record of similar investments during Trump’s first term.

Mr. Son has previously discussed artificial intelligence and the opportunities he sees at Bloomberg Reported in February He was planning a $100 billion chip venture.

But his SoftBank Group had only about a third of that, $30 billion, in cash earlier this year and its global reputation has taken a major blow after previous bets such as a big investment in co-working firm WeWork.

With cameras rolling at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Son avoided giving specifics about how he would follow through on his promise.

Nor did Trump demand details, presenting the pledge primarily as a sign of the broader renewal in trade optimism that surveys have reported in recent weeks.

“This historic investment is a monumental display of confidence in America’s future,” the president-elect said.

Trump has indicated that he plans to use the bully pulpit to promote foreign investment when he returns to the White House.

His campaign has promised to reduce both taxes and regulations, which has already boosted Wall Street and inspired big businesses to pursue massive ambitions.

Specifically, Trump has said he will cut taxes for companies making products in the US and speed up approvals for companies investing $1 billion or more.

Investors hope he will give the green light to takeovers and also step back from enforcing antitrust laws.

Still, there are concerns about Trump’s campaign promises to crack down on immigration, which could impact the workforce, and raise tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada. Additionally, he has discussed rolling back manufacturing and energy incentives put in place by President Joe Biden, which some investors like.

Political leaders of both parties often promote business investment and often take some credit when those enterprises take off. For example, President Joe Biden visited projects at companies like chipmaker TSMC to highlight historic government-approved incentives for green energy and high-tech companies.

Monday’s event recalled the familiar spectacle from Trump’s first term in office, which was punctuated by high-profile announcements of investments. Many of those planned projects were already in the works or had dim prospects of becoming a reality.

These include Taiwanese semiconductor giant Foxconn’s plan to build a technology park in Wisconsin, which Trump claimed would become the “eighth wonder of the world.” According to CNBC, instead of creating more than 13,000 jobs and spending more than $10 billion, the company created less than 1,000 jobs and spent nearly $1 billion.

Trump did it too Said He will save a failing car factory in Lordstown, Ohio, along with an electric vehicle start-up backed by Foxconn. Promised to create one million jobs Created over five years by Alibaba’s Jack Ma.

The car company – Lordstown Motors – filed for bankruptcy and reorganized to become New Ride Inc. earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Alibaba has said it “supported” 403,000 US jobs in 2022, five years after Mr Ma’s promise.

Mr. Sun’s relationship with Trump also dates back to his first election.

Shortly after Trump took over the White House, the two men came together to discuss the $50 billion Mr. Son planned to invest in the U.S., as his company operates as a type of technology venture-capital firm. Was developing as.

Its current holdings include US telecoms firm T-Mobile and UK microchip designer Arm.