Trump dines with Apple, Salesforce and Anduril chiefs

President Trump dined with business leaders, including Salesforce Inc.’s Marc Benioff, Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook and Rakuten Group Inc.’s Hiroshi Mikitani as he looks to tout Japanese investment in the United States.

“You have great companies — you’re phenomenal business people,” Trump said on Tuesday, adding that the U.S. “won’t let you down.”

OpenAI Inc. co-founder Greg Brockman, Toshiba Corp.’s Taro Shimada, SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, Honda Motor Co. President Toshihiro Mibe and Anduril Industries Inc. founder Palmer Luckey were also among the guests expected at the dinner at the home of U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass.

The event opened with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for the second time in the day, announcing a series of potential Japanese investments in U.S. projects.

Under a trade framework reached earlier this year, Trump lowered and capped tariffs on Japanese goods in exchange for a pledge for Japan to fund $550 billion in U.S. projects. Lutnick said the deals announced Tuesday alone could account for around $490 billion in investment, though many of the plans are preliminary and cost figures represent the upper end of possible deals.

The effort was designed to put to rest questions about differing interpretations of the investment fund, which was a critical part of the trade deal.

Trump has previously cast the $550 billion as money that his administration could “invest as we like” with 90% of the profits being given to the United States. Japan has described the pledge as a combination of investments, loans and loan guarantees, characterizing it as a way to back up Japanese firms’ U.S. projects.

Attendees at the dinner enjoyed a menu that included a vegetable spring roll, salad, stuffed pasta and apple crumble tart.

Dlouhy and Wingrove write for Bloomberg.