SoftBank’s investments are “a monumental demonstration of confidence in America’s future,” Trump said.

Son said he wanted to “celebrate President Trump’s great victory” and that he would “bring the world back to peace.”

“I’m really excited to make this happen,” he said.

After the president-elect noted that the $100 billion was double an investment commitment Son made in 2016 on the eve of Trump’s first administration, the tech mogul said he would double his investments. Trump seemingly jokingly asked him on the microphone if he would double the investment again: “Would you take it to $200 billion?”

Trump has announced deals with companies abroad with great fanfare in the past, although some companies ultimately failed to follow through on promised investments.

Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwanese company best known for making Apple iPhones, received Trump’s praise after it announced plans in 2017 to build a $10 billion complex that would house 13,000 people in a small town south of Milwaukee would employ. But Foxconn’s investments were scaled back to a fraction of that after the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Monday’s announcement is a victory for Trump, who has used the weeks since the election to advance his policies, negotiate with foreign leaders and try to strike deals.

He had already threatened high tariffs on Mexico and Canada, prompting a visit from the Canadian prime minister. In a post on his website Truth Social last week, Trump said that anyone making a $1 billion investment in the United States “will receive fully expedited approvals and approvals.” , including, but in no way limited to, all environmental permits.” and a telephone call with the Mexican President.

SoftBank was founded in 1981 by Son, a bold entrepreneur who studied at the University of California, Berkeley. SoftBank invests in a variety of companies that it aggregates through its capital venture fund.

The company’s investment portfolio includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba and artificial intelligence company Nvidia. Earlier this year, the company partnered with Saudi Arabia to build a robot factory in Riyadh.

After Trump won the White House for the first time in 2016, he met with Son before taking office. Son then announced plans to create 50,000 jobs and invest $50 billion in US startups, which Trump tweeted on social media celebrated and said that this would never have happened if he had not won the election.

Not all investments were worth it. Most notorious was SoftBank’s massive stake in office-sharing company WeWork, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year. It also invested in failed robot pizza maker Zume.

Monday’s announcement came days after Trump vowed to speed up federal approvals for energy projects and other construction worth more than $1 billion.

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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Paul Wiseman and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this story.

Photo credit: AP

Photo credit: AP