U.S., Japan to cooperate on energy, infrastructure investment-Treasury

The United States and Japan have signed an agreement to jointly encourage more private investment in energy and infrastructure projects, the U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday. The Treasury said the world's largest and third-largest economies "will work together to address regulatory, market, and legal barriers to private sector investment, and develop innovative solutions to deepen regional debt markets for energy and infrastructure projects."

The memorandum of cooperation, signed by Treasury and Japan's economy and finance ministries, also will seek to "crowd-in institutional investors," enhance commodity trading markets for liquefied natural gas and boost bilateral investment. The effort comes as the Trump administration is seeking ways to compete with China's massive Belt and Road infrastructure drive by offering private-sector led solutions.