The U.S. and Japan still need to do a lot of work to hammer the funding details for three projects announced as part of a U.S.-Japan trade deal, according to the head of a Tokyo-backed bank involved in the negotiations.

¡°We believe these projects have become bankable, but there is still a lot of work that remains,¡± Nobumitsu Hayashi, the chief of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, said Thursday during a news conference in Tokyo.

Hayashi said that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi¡¯s upcoming trip to the U.S. to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in March is a timeline that the bank is conscious of as they work to push forward investments.

The initial batch of investment projects, announced earlier this month, includes outlays for a data infrastructure project, a deep-sea oil terminal and a facility to manufacture synthetic diamonds used for semiconductors.

JBIC, a government-backed bank, has become a crucial player in the U.S.-Japan trade deal as it takes on some of the funding of the $550 billion investment initiative alongside private companies and banks with a combination of loans and investments.

¡°We may want to progress in a certain way, but the question of whether the U.S. will respond in kind remains. They may also have different ideas,¡± he said, adding that he couldn¡¯t say at this point how negotiations will progress.

¡°Of course, we have in mind the 45-day time frame and the U.S.-Japan leadership summit,¡± he added, referring to a clause in the trade agreement that indicates Japan will provide the funding for projects within 45 days of Trump selecting the project or risk a potential increase in tariffs.

The comments came after Trump instated a fresh 10% levy on Tuesday in response to the U.S. Supreme Court¡¯s decision last week to strike down an initial round of so-called reciprocal tariffs as illegal. Japan agreed in July to create the $550 billion investment vehicle in exchange for securing a lower reciprocal tariff rate and lower duties on auto exports.

Japan¡¯s government has said it will continue to work on implementing the investment deal, even though the tariffs that had formed the basis for that agreement had been ruled illegal.

¡°We will continue to work on implementing the trade deal steadily and surely, and we will continue to seek the U.S. to do so as well,¡± Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a regular news briefing on Tuesday.