The Steel City will live to see another day thanks to the Trump administration. President Donald Trump visited United States Steel’s Irvin Works in West Mifflin, PA, near Pittsburgh on Friday to announce a partnership between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel — a safe partnership, something the Biden administration assumed would not be possible.
I spent the first decade of my career in the steel industry. My father has run steel foundries across the globe and brought me into the business. When I read that the Biden administration announced it blocked the Nippon Steel/U.S. Steel partnership, I knew the consequences would be long-lasting, even dire for our nation.
Unlike the Biden administration, Trump understood that steel is critical to our everyday lives and U.S. steel production is crucial to our national security.
Based on my father’s and my experiences with Trump, I knew there was hope coming for a proper negotiation after the inauguration. Before I lost my father to cancer in 2022, we had spoken to Trump at length regarding steel tariffs and the importance of protecting steel production on the home front. It was clear Trump knows how critical the steel industry is to our nation.
In 2023, the United States consumed 93 million tons of steel but only produced 89.7 million tons. U.S. Steel has the capability of producing 22.4 million tons. The partnership between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel gives the companies a combined capacity of 86 million tons per year, which is enough capacity secure to American steel usage in perpetuity.
Steel is used for everything from molding plastic to building automobiles, buildings, bridges, trucks, ships, and more. Over the past 50 years, the United States has fallen behind China and India in steel production, putting our security at risk.
The cyclical nature of the steel business, in addition to unfair global competition from China and India, has wreaked havoc on U.S. manufacturers. U.S. Steel is in major need of investment and technological advancements. Blocking the partnership would leave the company financially crippled and technologically behind.
Nevertheless, on January 3, 2025, former President Joe Biden issued an order demanding that the deal between the two companies be dissolved within 30 days. Nearly a quarter of all steel production in the United States could have been lost had Biden’s order prohibiting the sale stood.
As Trump said in his speech on Friday, “If you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country.”
Biden is believed to have signed an order saying he reserved the right of the president “to issue further orders with respect to the Purchasers or U.S. Steel as shall in my judgment be necessary to protect the national security of the United States.” However, rumors are swirling that by that time in his presidency, Biden may not have even known what was being signed on his behalf or what statements were being made to the American people.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is investigating Biden’s cognitive decline, the cover-up and the potentially unauthorized use of the autopen. This begs the question, did the sitting U.S. President risk our national security by blocking the Nippon Steel deal with no alternative or was there someone more nefarious behind the scenes making these decisions?
There are certainly valid concerns about ensuring one quarter of the nation’s steel production stays within U.S. control. The Biden administration was correct when they issued a statement saying, “A strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority and is critical for resilient supply chains,” but Biden, or whoever controlled the autopen, was willing to leave us compromised with no alternative.
As is typical with the Democratic Party, they issue and mandate with no bridge to the future. Banning the deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel did not protect the United States from Japan, an allied nation,it simply guaranteed the closure of U.S. Steel or at least a very severely diminished production with massive job losses.
This would also guarantee the closure of the Pittsburgh headquarters, which would have been a major blow to the city and the state’s economy.
The story would have been similar to what we have seen with the automotive industry and electric vehicle mandates. The cars did not sell, and the industry lost billions.
Just last week, GM announced an $888 million dollar investment in their New York propulsion assembly plant to produce the next generation V-8 engine. It will be the largest ever investment in an engine plant. This would never happen with Democrats in charge.
That engine factory will use steel. We want it to be steel produced in the United States, not China or India.
The steel industry needs to make a comeback in America, where it once thrived. Steel is the world’s most commonly used metal. So-called green Democrats can’t complain about it because steel is also the most recycled material.
During Trump’s first term, I was working at one of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States. The headquarters was in a notoriously liberal city and the executives were devastated by Trump’s 2016 win, yet the company saw an immediate increase in sales.
First, the tariffs pushed tool and die shops back to U.S. manufacturers. My territory in Western Michigan and Northern Indiana grew by $4 million in sales in as many months. Business was booming, much to the chagrin of the liberals.
Second, the company made fracking blocks — heavy components made from solid blocks of steel, weighing nearly 10,000 pounds. When I arrived in 2016, they said the frack block had been their “bread and butter” until Obama began to kill the fracking industry. The frack block business boomed again during the Trump years.
The impact of these arbitrary government policies and mandates can threaten our national security from multiple different directions. Trying to put an end to fracking reduced steel production and significantly reduced revenue in the industry. Factories across the country took a hit.
Attempting to eliminate the automotive engine to go electric has also damaged the steel industry. Not only did it eliminate steel engine parts, but it also damaged the automotive industry for years. Analysts in Michigan are predicting more than 3,000 automotive jobs will be lost in the state over the next five years; 2,600 were lost in the past five years.
Fracking was a big issue in both the 2022 and 2024 elections. Even Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has switched his stance on fracking after seeing the negative effects of the bans on communities in his home state of Pennsylvania. Politicians who once ran to the bully pulpit to admonish fracking now hide from the cameras when the subject rears its ugly head.
Is a Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel partnership ideal? Probably not, but it’s the best outcome under the current circumstances. Years of bad policy in the state governments and the federal government likely left U.S. Steel no choice. The years of volatility in the market due the policies mentioned above don’t leave much room for profit and certainly not reinvestment. By shutting down the deal, Biden created a new problem instead of providing a solution.
To make matters worse, his announcement caused a stir on the world stage as well. Declaring a deal with Japan was unsafe caught the attention of analysts who voiced concerns that this type of bold statement could drive Japanese investments away from the United States.
The saving grace was that Trump would be sworn in within days of Biden’s announcement. The ultimate dealmaker would certainly be able to strike one that would appeal to both countries.
TRUMP’S US STEEL DEAL IS A WIN FOR AMERICA
The Trump administration successfully worked with Nippon Steel to write up terms that will ensure the United States is still in control of U.S. Steel and also ensured the company’s survival.
To the America First naysayers, understand that Trump knows America First doesn’t mean America only. Trump puts America First because a strong America makes the whole world better.
Tudor Dixon is a former Republican gubernatorial nominee, executive in Michigan’s steel industry, breast-cancer survivor, and working mom of four girls. She is currently the host of The Tudor Dixon Podcast.