Nippon Steel “is going to be doing something very exciting about U.S. Steel,” Trump said at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
“They’ll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase.”
On Friday, President Donald Trump suggested that Nippon Steel would not buy U.S. Steel as planned but instead invest in the symbolically significant American business.
The U.S. president mispronounced Nippon Steel as “Nissan,” the Japanese automaker.
However, Nippon Steel’s bid caused controversy as both Trump and his predecessor in the White House, Joe Biden, vowed to block the merger.
The investment’s specifics were unknown, but Trump stated that he would meet with Nippon Steel’s CEO the next week and would be involved “to mediate and arbitrate.”
Laptops 1000Ishiba stated that U.S. steel mills will receive Japanese technology and characterized the investment as mutually beneficial.
Since the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker was essential to the identity of Pennsylvania, a political swing state, Nippon Steel’s almost $15 billion attempt to acquire U.S. Steel in December 2023 caused a sudden political controversy in the 2024 presidential election.
While Trump, as a candidate, categorically opposed the purchase, Biden supported the labor organization United Steelworkers in its efforts to thwart the merger.
Biden received the long-awaited assessment of national security concerns about the merger from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in December.
However, the government panel was unable to agree on whether there were any national security concerns.
The Biden administration effectively gave Trump the option of what to do next by extending the deadline for Nippon Steel to get out of the agreement.
