President Donald Trump said Friday that he has approved a “planned partnership” between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, appearing to greenlight a proposed merger first announced in December 2023.

In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump heralded the deal that would keep U.S. Steel in America and its headquarters in Pittsburgh — which was baked into the original deal that Nippon struck with U.S. Steel in December 2023, when it offered $14.9 billion for the company.

That deal has been stuck in limbo as two separate federal committees investigated the national security implications of a Japanese firm owning a U.S. steel giant. The second of those committees submitted its recommendations to Trump on Wednesday, although the result was not made public.

Former President Joe Biden rejected the deal on his way out of the White House in January and Trump ordered a new review, but maintained that he did not want U.S. Steel to be foreign owned.

“We don’t want it to go to Japan,” the president said in April. At the time, it was understood that he was talking about ownership rather than location, although his Truth Social text may suggest Trump was worried about U.S. Steel facilities actually being relocated.

“I am proud to announce that, after much consideration and negotiation, US Steel will REMAIN in America, and keep its Headquarters in the Great City of Pittsburgh,” Trump wrote on social media on Friday.

U.S. Steel’s current leadership had threatened to relocate the headquarters of the company elsewhere in the U.S. if the Nippon deal did not go through.

“This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 Billion Dollars to the U.S. Economy. The bulk of that Investment will occur in the next 14 months. This is the largest Investment in the History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Trump wrote.

The president’s post also mentioned that he would be appearing at a “BIG rally” in Pittsburgh on May 30. No details were provided.

U.S. Steel issued a three-sentence statement on Friday evening:

“President Trump is a bold leader and businessman who knows how to gewaitit the best deal for America, American workers and American manufacturing. 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.

“U.S. Steel greatly appreciates President Trump's leadership and personal attention to the futures of thousands of steelworkers and our iconic company.”

The company’s statement did not expound on the structure of the deal or what is meant by the word “partnership.”

Nippon also used the word “partnership” in its statement Friday evening.

“The partnership between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel is a game changer,” Nippon said, “for U.S. Steel and all of its stakeholders, including the American steel industry and the broader American manufacturing base.”

Nippon Steel said it “applauds President Trump for his bold action to approve our partnership with U.S. Steel. We share the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting American workers, the American steel industry, and America’s national security.”

‘A great day for Western Pennsylvania’

Nippon has pledged to spend increasing billions of dollars on U.S. Steel as it courted first the labor union and then the Trump administration.

The money, which stood at $11 billion as of last week to be spent over the next three years, will be invested in overhauling and modernizing existing facilities not just in the Mon Valley but across the other states where U.S. Steel operates, including Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas and Minnesota.

Nippon has also vowed to spend at least $1 billion and up to $4 billion on a new steel mill on a greenfield site yet to be determined.

The deal was opposed by the leadership of the United Steelworkers union, which represents about 11,000 employees at U.S. Steel facilities, from the start, although local union officials appeared more supportive and some lobbied for the deal. In January, rank-and-file steelworkers began sending letters to Trump urging him to approve the deal, and in September workers rallied Downtown in support of Nippon taking over.

U.S. Steel’s stock immediately jumped more than 25% after Trump posted on Friday.

Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, praised Trump’s decision in a statement moments after the post.

"President Trump’s engagement in the Nippon/U.S. Steel acquisition has not only made this the largest steel merger in recent history, but will position the American steel industry to dominate the global marketplace through innovation,” she wrote. “This $28 billion deal will sustain and create a combined total of 25,500 jobs and keep U.S. Steel where it belongs — in Western Pennsylvania.

“This is a great day for Western Pennsylvania.”

In a statement, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said: “Throughout the entire process, I have maintained that my priority was to keep and grow jobs here in Pennsylvania and get the largest investment we possibly could for our Commonwealth — as I expressed to President Trump directly when we discussed this transaction in recent days.”

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis called the announcement “promising, but I want to make sure everyone involved in the deal holds up their end of the bargain. I look forward to seeing the promised investments become a reality and the workers receive everything they've fought for."

The Allegheny Conference, which strongly advocated for the deal, thanked Trump for his decision which, it said in a statement, “reflects a clear recognition of the opportunity this significant investment presents — not just for the economic future of the Pittsburgh region but for the future of American manufacturing and steelmaking.”

“We stand ready to welcome Nippon Steel to our community and our tables as our partner in regional economic growth,” the statement read.

Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said in a statement that she wants “to see Nippon commit to investing in the workers and honor the collective bargaining agreements now and in the future; be a good community partner with Mon Valley residents and work with county and local government to build a future where everyone can thrive; and invest in new technologies and infrastructure on site to modernize the campus, put local people to work, and improve air quality.

“If Nippon can meet those criteria, we welcome them to Allegheny County,” she said.

Partnership vs. acquisition

The language of “partnership” as opposed to “acquisition” harkens back to Trump’s comments earlier this year when he sought to reframe the relationship between Nippon and U.S. Steel.

“They've agreed to invest heavily in U.S. Steel, as opposed to own it,” Trump said in February.

In April, he reiterated the point during a press conference in the Oval Office.

The president said he “rejected the deal.”

“Now, they’ve come back in a different form. They’re coming back as an investor,” he said.

Trump then added: “I know the thinking ... they’ll invest and somebody else maybe is sitting in this chair and they will no longer have an investment — they’ll have the whole thing. You know, that’s the way it works. They’re very smart.”

Nippon, for its part, has not wavered from the structure of the original deal.

"Our intention to pursue a full buyout remains unchanged," Nippon Steel Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori told Reuters earlier this week, before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, had made its recommendations to Trump.

Mr. Mori also said that if the deal closes, U.S. Steel’s new board would have three independent directors, appointed by the U.S. government, who will oversee trade and manufacturing capacity issues.

It’s a mechanism that’s in CFIUS’s toolbox of mitigation measures for resolving natural security concerns.

According to CFIUS’s annual report detailing activities for 2023 — the latest available — its settlement agreements with companies included “the appointment of a U.S. Government-approved security officer, member of the board of directors, or board observer.”

In 2021, a mitigation settlement with CFIUS included appointing a government-approved director to the board of commercial space transportation company Momentus Inc., a condition for the approval of its acquisition by a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company.

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