WASHINGTON — President Trump said Friday that Japan’s Nippon Steel would be allowed to invest “heavily” in US Steel, but would still not be able to outright purchase it.
“They’ve agreed to invest heavily in US Steel, as opposed to own it, and that sounds very exciting,” Trump said a press conference following his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Both Trump and former President Joe Biden vowed to block the sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel, wanting to keep the company in the US.
“US 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,” Trump said in the press conference.
He did not disclose the details of the investment agreement, but said he would be meeting with the head of Nippon Steel next week to iron out the plan.
Biden had officially blocked the proposed $14.9 billion purchase of the company in the final weeks of his presidency, citing national security concerns.
The former president said in a statement at the time, “it is my solemn responsibility as president to ensure that, now and long into the future, America has a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry that can continue to power our national sources of strength at home and abroad.”
Nippon and US Steel both criticized Biden’s move and sought to reverse the block in court.
US Steel had argued that Nippon, the largest steel company in Japan, was needed to increase its production capacity after the company suffered several setbacks.
The situation was so dire, the company said, that the purchase falling through could have led the company to put thousands of union workers at risk and potentially close its headquarters in swing-state Pennsylvania.
“We want elected leaders and other key decision makers to recognize the benefits of the deal as well as the unavoidable consequences if the deal fails,” US Steel CEO David Burritt said in September.
Trump doubled down that he didn’t want the company to be purchased, but said he fully supports the investment plan.
“I didn’t want it purchased, but investment I love. And they’re going to do a big investment subject to getting the deal done,” he told reporters.
On the campaign trail Trump vowed to keep jobs in the US and get foreign countries to open new businesses and invest in American manufacturing. He touted in his remarks with Ishiba that Japanese AI company SoftBank has already promised to invest $100 billion into US tech projects over the next four years.
“We have a lot of people coming in and investing in the United States, I think our the feeling throughout the world has never been stronger about this country,” Trump said of the glut of investments pouring into the US.
He also said he and the Japanese prime minister discussed doing a “joint venture” with Alaska oil and gas in the near future — and that Japan has agreed to “importing historic new shipments of clean American liquefied natural gas in record numbers.”
The US-Japan meeting was the first for Trump and Ishiba, but both leaders reiterated their commitment to the bilateral relationship and cooperation on the economy and military.
Ishiba pledged Japan would be increasing their defense budget to further contribute to regional security and said Trump was “frightening” on TV — but pleasant in person.
