WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Friday that Japan-based Nippon Steel will be allowed to invest in US Steel, ending a years-long drama over the fate of a company once synonymous with American economic power.
“I am proud to announce that, after much consideration and negotiation, US Steel will REMAIN in America, and keep its Headquarters in the Great City of Pittsburgh,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“For many years, the name, ‘United States Steel’ was synonymous with Greatness, and now, it will be again. 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 U.S. Economy. The bulk of that Investment will occur in the next 14 months.”
US Steel stock jumped nearly $10 a share after Trump’s announcement in the final half-hour of trading — closing up $9.11 to finish the week up nearly 30% from its Monday open.
Nippon Steel first announced plans to acquire US Steel back in 2023, sparking a feud with the Biden administration whether a foreign company should be allowed to absorb the American institution.
US Steel had argued it needed Tokyo-based Nippon, the largest steelmaker in Japan, to help it out of financial challenges dating back more than a decade.
If the transaction was blocked, the company warned, it would need to lay off thousands of union workers and abandon its Pittsburgh headquarters.
Former President Joe Biden blocked the deal from going through, and Trump also said the Japanese company wouldn’t be able to purchase the second-largest US steel company outright.
“US Steel is a very important company to us,” Trump said in February at a press conference after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. “It was the greatest company in the world for 15 years, many years ago, 80 years ago, and we didn’t want to see that leave, and it wouldn’t actually leave, but the concept, psychologically, not good.”
“I didn’t want it purchased, but investment I love. And they’re going to do a big investment subject to getting the deal done,” Trump said at the time.
US Steel was formed in 1901 following the merger of Carnegie Steel, Federal Steel and National Steel. At the time, the new company made nearly 70% of America’s steel.
The company achieved pop culture immortality in the 1974 film “The Godfather Part II,” in which the character Hyman Roth, played by Lee Strasberg tells protagonist Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) that the mafia is “bigger than US Steel.”
Currently, the company’s market share has dropped to under 10%, but it is still regarded as a pillar of US business and its ownership is seen by members of both parties as a matter of national security.
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