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Donald Trump has broadly endorsed Nippon Steel’s $15bn deal to buy US Steel, in an apparent reversal of his opposition to a cross-border transaction that was blocked by Joe Biden on national security grounds.
“This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 Billion Dollars to the US Economy,” the US president wrote in a social media post on Friday. He added that the “bulk” of that additional investment would be made in the next 14 months.
Trump’s post hailing the companies’ partnership was considered “tacit approval” by the administration for the $15bn takeover they agreed at the end of 2023, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
The US company would remain headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where it has been based for more than a century, Trump said. He plans to host a rally in the city on May 30.
Trump opposed Nippon Steel’s planned takeover of US Steel as he courted Pennsylvania’s blue-collar voters in last year’s presidential election campaign, saying it would be a “horrible thing” if it were sold to a foreign entity.
While his post on Friday was considered supportive, the person familiar with negotiations between the companies said that more meetings would be needed to formalise the president’s approval.
US Steel in a statement on Friday expressed appreciation for Trump’s “leadership” and “personal attention”.
“President Trump is a bold leader and businessman who knows how to get the best deal for America, American workers and American manufacturing,” it said. “US Steel will remain American, and we will grow bigger and stronger through a partnership with Nippon Steel that brings massive investment, new technologies and thousands of jobs over the next four years.”
Nippon Steel also thanked the US president for his support of the deal.
“The partnership between Nippon Steel and US Steel is a game-changer — for US Steel and all of its stakeholders, including the American steel industry, and the broader American manufacturing base,” it said.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
The United Steelworkers union, which last year praised Trump for opposing Nippon Steel’s bid, said it was concerned that “a foreign corporation with a long and proven track record of violating our trade laws, will further erode domestic steelmaking capacity and jeopardise thousands of good, union jobs”.
The $15bn transaction has been ensnared in political concerns and national security worries since the agreement was reached at the end of 2023.
Then president Biden, vice-president Kamala Harris and Trump all opposed the deal on the campaign trail.
Nippon Steel has committed to investing more capital into the business in an effort to gain union and political support. Last week, the steelmaker agreed to quadruple its $2.7bn investment in a final push to clinch support from the Trump administration.
The parameters of the deal, which had long been touted as an acquisition of the US company by Nippon Steel, were not immediately clear.
Trump’s support for the Nippon Steel deal follows a call he initiated with Japan’s prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, earlier on Friday. Ishiba later told reporters that a planned meeting with the US president in June on the sidelines of the G7 leaders meeting in Canada would be a “milestone” in bilateral talks.
Japan and the US remain locked in trade negotiations in which Ishiba remains “unwavering” in holding out for a complete exemption from US tariffs, despite mounting pressure to strike a deal. According to officials close to the negotiations, talks have increasingly focused on the investment Japan can bring into the US.
Japan’s lead negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, held talks in Washington on Friday with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and told reporters that the Trump administration was “increasingly understanding the importance of Japan for the US economy”.
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