Trump plugs $54 billion natural gas project in Alaska, flanked by a senator in a tight race

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said South Korea plans to invest about $54 billion in a natural gas project in Alaska, an announcement he made in the Oval Office on Wednesday flanked by a Republican senator who has found himself in a tough reelection race in the state.

But while Trump and Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan — a two-term senator and long-time advocate for the pipeline project — described it as a fait accompli, South Korean officials were more cautious, saying they needed to assess the project's commercial viability before committing to the investment.

The announcement was the second time in three days that the president used promises of big projects to try to elevate Senate candidates in states where Trump won comfortably each time he has run — but where Republicans are now in surprisingly competitive races just weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. On Monday, Trump made a similar-styled announcement about a massive steel plant in Iowa.

But South Korea’s participation in the Alaska project — an 807-mile (1,300-kilometer) pipeline connecting Alaska’s North Slope to a liquefied natural gas export terminal in the southern part of the state —“has not been finalized,” said Han Jeoungae, secretary-general of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s liberal Democratic Party. She said that she believes Trump’s comments were “intended to emphasize the U.S. position.”

“We will decide whether to invest in the Alaska LNG project only after thoroughly reviewing it in accordance with our domestic legal procedures and based on the principle of commercial viability,” she wrote on Facebook.

Trump and Alaskan leaders in the Oval Office did not describe the project as pending. Trump praised Sullivan —who is facing a competitive challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman — for pushing it forward, saying “He’s been working on this deal and other deals in Alaska, the pipeline, for almost 20 years, and we’re now getting it done."

Sullivan thanked Trump and his cabinet for their work on the deal. “Mr. President, this one is huge for Alaska,” Sullivan said, adding that he’d been working on it “relentlessly.”

Peltola, Sullivan's Democratic challenger, also praised the project and Trump's advocacy for it, saying in a statement that she had been part of the bipartisan push to bring it “closer to reality" and looked forward to “continuing this bipartisan work with the President as Alaska’s next United States Senator.”

The push to deliver big projects in areas where GOP candidates could use a boost comes as Trump's approval ratings have sunk ahead of the midterm elections.

Even Trump himself has begun acknowledging that Republicans could face an uphill climb in their push to retain control of both chambers of Congress after November. “We have to turn this around,” he said on Wednesday, suggesting his administration hasn't done enough to promote its accomplishments.

“I’ve done a very bad job of explaining," the president said during an earlier event in the White House East Room. He's promised to try to rectify that by spending much of the next month on the road campaigning. He begins that swing on Thursday with trips to Texas and Alabama, followed by Ohio on Saturday and Nebraska on Monday. All four are normally solidly red states.

On Monday, Trump announced plans for a $15 billion steel plant to be built by a Minnesota company owned by an Indian industrial conglomerate in Iowa, where Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson is in a close U.S. Senate contest with Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek for the seat being vacated by retiring two-term Republican Joni Ernst. Hinson spoke in the Oval Office during the announcement.

Democrats need to gain a net of four seats in the 100-member Senate to overtake Republicans and gain a majority, and the seats in Iowa and Alaska are among those they're targeting.

Trump's announcements come as voters express concern about near-record fuel prices related to the unresolved war with Iran and as majority Republicans in Congress are facing voters dissatisfied with Trump's handling of the economy.

In a late-July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only about one-third of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, and about 7 in 10 described the economy as poor.

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Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. AP writers Tom Beaumont contributed from Des Moines, Iowa and Meg Kinnard from Columbia, S.C.