US President Donald Trump said that Japanese steel company Nippon Steel will not buy US Steel as planned, and that the Japanese company will instead invest in the symbolically important US company.
Trump said at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba that Nippon Steel “will do something very exciting with U.S. Steel,” and that it will look at making an investment rather than a purchase. The details of the investment were not clear, but Trump said he would meet with Nippon Steel’s chairman next week and would participate in “mediation and arbitration.”
Nippon Steel had made a roughly $15 billion bid for U.S. Steel in December 2023, creating a political headache in the 2024 presidential election, as the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker was a key political issue in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
On Oct. 6, 2024, an arbitration panel approved Nippon Steel’s takeover of U.S. Steel, over objections from the steelworkers union and President Joe Biden, and the U.S. Investment Committee rejected the bid, making its decision binding on the president.
