US President Donald Trump has lauded an ‘agreement’ between Nippon Steel and US Steel at a political rally but stopped short of approving the companies’ diplomatically sensitive merger.
On a stage near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, decorated with signs celebrating “American steel’, Trump declared the American steel company would remain American, while extolling its prospective new Japanese partner.
“We’re here today to celebrate a blockbuster agreement that will ensure this storied American company stays an American company,” Trump told more than 1,600 people, including hard hat-wearing workers. “You’re going to stay an American company, you know that, right? But we’re going to have a great partner.”
Later, though, he said the deal still needed his final go-ahead, leaving unresolved whether he would allow Nippon Steel to take ownership, as they had proposed.
“I have to approve the final deal with Nippon, and we haven’t seen that final deal yet,” Trump told reporters when he returned from Pennsylvania.
The Japanese firm’s planned acquisition of US Steel, initially floated in 2023, divided the politically important state of Pennsylvania and its heavily unionised blue-collar workforce. It also introduced tension into normally friendly relations between Tokyo and Washington.
Proponents of the transaction had hoped Trump’s visit would end a tumultuous 18-month effort by Nippon Steel to buy the iconic American company, beset by opposition from union leadership and two national security reviews.
Trump’s remarks shed little light on the contours of a deal that he would approve or whether a formal green light was in the offing.
He vowed to workers that US Steel would be “controlled by the USA”, no layoffs would occur, and that Nippon would invest billions of dollars to modernise US steel mills to increase production. He later suggested to reporters that the company’s board would be US-”controlled.”
In a sign of the many open questions that remain, Japan’s top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, told reporters he could not yet comment on the tie-up.
“I am aware of the various reports and posts by President Trump on social media. However, there has not yet been an official announcement from the US government,” Akazawa, in Washington for tariff negotiations, said at a briefing at the Japanese Embassy in Washington.
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