The first fruits of a promised $550 billion investment agreement between the U.S. and Japan are already tainted with pollution.

A unit of SoftBank Group will invest $33 billion in a natural gas power station in Ohio that would be the world’s biggest nonrenewable power station. Another $2.1 billion will be spent on a crude oil export terminal. The two projects are the main elements in the first tranche of a deal intended to reduce tariffs on Japanese imports from 25% to 15% in return for investments in the U.S.

That carbon-heavy outcome might come as no surprise for Washington, where the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has been ordering the Pentagon to buy coal-fired power and turning lumps of fuel into kawaii mascots. But surely Japan — the land that invented the lithium-ion battery and hybrid car — knows better?

© The Japan Times