Trump announces planned partnership between US Steel and Nippon Steel

The deal is key to Nippon Steel's global expansion strategy, but its format remains unknown

On May 23, US President Donald Trump announced a planned partnership between US Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel, but did not provide details of the decision, Bloomberg reports.

Trump said that the partnership would create at least 70,000 jobs and add $14 billion to the US economy, with the bulk of the investment to be made over the next 14 months. However, his statement did not contain direct support for the proposed acquisition by the Japanese company. According to the report, the US steelmaker will keep its headquarters in Pittsburgh.

Later, Trump added that the United States would have control over US Steel as part of the partnership with Nippon Steel, otherwise he would not have approved it.

“It’s an investment, and it’s a partial ownership, but it will be under US control,” the US president said on May 25.

However, the companies praised Trump’s comments.

“US Steel will remain an American company, and we will grow and strengthen through a partnership with Nippon Steel that will bring huge investments, new technologies, and thousands of jobs over the next four years,” US Steel said in a statement.

Although no details were made public, Reuters reports that investors expressed confidence that the terms would be similar to those agreed in 2023. According to them, US Steel shares will eventually no longer be publicly traded and they will receive a cash payment for their shares.

For Nippon Steel, the deal is key to its global expansion strategy. It will allow the company to increase steel production to 86 million tons from the current 63 million tons amid declining domestic demand in Japan and fierce competition in Asia. However, analysts are concerned about its scale and additional investments for the Japanese company.

As a reminder, in December 2023, Nippon Steel offered $14.9 billion for US Steel. However, this merger faced difficulties from the very beginning. In August 2024, the Japanese company increased its investment commitments to the American steelmaker to $2.7 billion.

In January of this year, then-U.S. President Joe Biden blocked the deal on national security grounds, leading to lawsuits from companies. In February, his successor Trump said he was open to strategic investments by Nippon, but not to the purchase of US Steel.

As GMK Center reported earlier, US Steel reduced steel shipments by 1.1% year-on-year – to 3.76 million short tons in the first quarter of 2025. In January-March, the European segment decreased by 20.1% y/y – to 856 thousand short tons.