(PITTSBURGH) — President Donald Trump on Friday visits Pittsburgh to celebrate what he says is a “planned partnership” between U.S. Steel and the Japanese company Nippon Steel, after previously opposing a merger.
Trump is set to deliver remarks at 5 p.m. ET about the “U.S. Steel Deal” at a rally at the Irvin Works in Allegheny County, according to the White House.
Trump announced the agreement on his conservative social media platform last week. He said it will create at least 70,000 jobs and add $14 billion to the American economy. The “investment,” he wrote, would take place over the next 14 months and keep U.S. Steel headquartered in Pennsylvania.
Trump, during the 2024 campaign, pledged to block the Japanese steelmaker from purchasing U.S. Steel. As president-elect, he repeated that vow.
“I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump wrote in a post to his conservative social media platform in early December.
The Biden administration in January blocked the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel over national security concerns. The White House said at the time it was important to keep one of the largest steel producers in the nation an American-owned company.
The reaction was mixed. The president of the United Steelworkers union, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers, celebrated the move while local leaders expressed concern about U.S. Steel’s future in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Weeks after the inauguration, Trump met with U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt at the White House. In early April, he ordered a new national security review of Nippon Steel’s proposed bid to acquire U.S. Steel.
The White House has provided few details, other than those mentioned by Trump in his social media post, about the agreement.
Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, insisted on Thursday that U.S. Steel “owns” the company.
“Nippon Steel is going to have some involvement but no control of the company,” Navarro told reporters outside the White House, though he didn’t take any more questions on the agreement.
Nippon was seeking 100% ownership of U.S. Steel in talks with Trump, Nikkei Asia reported earlier this month.
U.S. Steel issued a brief statement last week in which it said Trump “is a bold leader and businessman who knows how to get the best deal for America.”
“U. S. Steel will remain American, and we will grow bigger and stronger through a partnership with Nippon Steel that brings massive investment, new technologies and thousands of jobs over the next four years,” the company said without sharing more specifics.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
