President Donald Trump’s decision to green-light a restructured deal between US Steel and Japanese-owned Nippon Steel was a turnaround for him and perhaps for American manufacturing. Trump, who vowed to block the deal throughout the 2024 presidential campaign on the grounds of protecting domestic industry and national security, eventually came to a different and truer “America First” conclusion. The merger of Nippon Steel and US Steel is a great deal for America.
Nippon Steel is buying US Steel for $15 billion and has agreed to let the American company remain American-operated. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), who played a key role in shaping the deal, said Tuesday that Nippon Steel agreed to an American CEO, a U.S.-majority board, and a “golden share,” granting the U.S. government veto power over critical corporate decisions. For Trump, these stipulations addressed concerns about national security while securing economic gains for the nation, especially western Pennsylvania.
“It’ll be controlled by the United States. Otherwise, I wouldn’t make the deal,” Trump told reporters Tuesday on a tarmac. “I went to all of the local unions. They all wanted it … Everybody seems to want it. They’re going to invest billions of dollars in steel, and it’s a good company … It’s a partial ownership, but it’ll be controlled by the USA.”
Nippon Steel plans to invest $14 billion in US Steel’s operations, including up to $4 billion in a new steel mill. While details of the deal continue to emerge, it’s been reported that Nippon Steel plans to inject billions of dollars more into US Steel’s infrastructure through 2028. This is a significant improvement on arrangements that former President Joe Biden and Trump rejected.
Labor unions and Democratic leaders also came around on the deal as negotiations progressed. While leaders in the international United Steelworkers Union have continued to oppose the takeover, local unions have overwhelmingly backed the deal.
Jack Maskil, president of the United Steelworkers Union Local 227, said Wednesday that he was initially shocked and skeptical at the prospect of US Steel being bought by a foreign firm. He cited distrust from Japan’s “dumping” of cheap steel in the 1970s, which contributed to a number of mill closures in Pittsburgh. But Nippon Steel’s pledge to invest billions of dollars in local facilities and face-to-face pledges from Nippon Steel executives to honor labor contracts changed his mind.
The new agreement prompted hundreds of labor leaders and workers to rally outside a plant in Clairton to influence the Biden administration to reconsider its opposition and to send a message to their international union leadership.
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) told the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito in an exclusive interview this week that the partnership is a “BFD [big f***ing deal]” that he supports enthusiastically.
“Credit the president for making the deal richer and richer, meaning more money put in it and looking out for Pennsylvania in this,” he said.
SHAPIRO CALLS TRUMP US STEEL DEAL A ‘BFD’
The merger could also benefit Nippon Steel by making it the world’s second-largest steel producer, allowing it to compete with China‘s Baowu Steel Group, and gaining access to the American market, one of the world’s largest.
How often do the terms of a corporate merger unite Republicans, Democrats, and union leaders, while creating tens of thousands of jobs and reducing the market dominance of the nation’s greatest geopolitical foe?