Washington — President Trump said Friday that Japan’s Nippon Steel will drop its $14.1 billion bid to acquire U.S. Steel and instead “invest heavily” in the company without taking a majority stake.
Mr. Trump announced the development in a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House.
“[Nippon’s] going to be doing something very exciting about U.S. Steel. They’ll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase,” he said. “U.S. Steel is a very important company to us. 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. So they’ve agreed to invest heavily in U.S. Steel as opposed to own it, and that sounds very exciting.”
The president did not reveal details of the proposed investment, and said he and other officials will meet next week with the head of Nippon. “They’ll work out the details. I’ll be there to mediate and arbitrate,” Mr. Trump said.
Earlier in the day, sources told CBS News that Mr. Trump was considering reversing his disapproval of the merger, which he expressed in a December post on Truth Social: “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.”
During his Oval Office meeting with Ishiba on Friday, CBS News asked the president whether he had changed his mind about the sale. He hinted that he would have news to share afterward and said he thought it would be discussed, saying he hadn’t changed his mind. However, he added, “I hear we’ll have some pretty good information on that.”
Last month, Nippon proposed giving the U.S. government direct veto authority over any changes to U.S. Steel’s production capacity. The proposal represented a minor change to a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a review panel known as CFIUS. That change was intended to allay concerns that Nippon Steel’s proposed purchase could lead to a decline in domestic steel output and a reduction in its U.S. workforce.
The proposed change in the so-called mitigation agreement would give all of the decision-making power on changes to production capacity to the U.S. government.
On Monday, Nippon and U.S. Steel submitted a 70-page opening brief in their case against the U.S. alleging that former President Joe Biden blocked the merger for political reasons and violated their due process. The suit has continued during the Trump administration.
The two companies said in a joint statement announcing the lawsuit last month that they had “engaged in good faith with all parties to underscore how the transaction will enhance, not threaten, United States national security.”
A second lawsuit aimed at domestic rival Cleveland-Cliffs’ CEO Lourenco Goncalves and U.S. Steelworkers President David McCall was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the companies stated.
Biden moved to halt the acquisition after federal regulators deadlocked on whether to approve it, saying that maintaining a strong domestic steel industry was important for U.S. national security.
contributed to this report.
