The Financial Times reports Prime Minister Takaichi agreed in March to fund and
provide industrial cooperation to build next‑generation small modular reactors
in Tennessee and Alabama, part of Tokyo’s $550bn investment pledge tied to U.S.
tariff concessions under Trump’s “liberation day” policy. Four sources said
Tokyo and Washington remain in talks after Japan raised concerns about potential
liability for a nuclear accident. The U.S. Commerce Department has given a
verbal assurance that the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and
other Japanese institutions would not bear accident liability, but that
guarantee is not yet written into legal documents and could require months or
years of regulatory negotiation to finalize. The impasse is the latest hurdle to
delivering Tokyo’s investment pledge; several Japanese industrial groups have
declined to lead U.S. projects.
