New Delhi, March 20 -- President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced a nuclear power project in the southern US, the latest initiative stemming from an investment fund the countries established as part of a trade pact.

At the White House on Thursday, the two leaders said that GE Vernova Inc. and Hitachi Ltd. will build BWRX-300 small modular nuclear reactors in Tennessee and Alabama at a cost of as much as $40 billion, according to a White House fact sheet. Japan will also invest up to $33 billion in natural gas power plants in Pennsylvania and Texas.

The projects are intended to stabilize electricity prices and bolster US leadership in global technology competition according to a White House official, who ...