President Trump will travel to Pennsylvania on Friday to celebrate a deal he brokered between US Steel and the Japanese company U.S. Steel, even as the details of what the agreement actually entails have yet to be released.
DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
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DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
President Trump is headed to a U.S. Steel plant outside Pittsburgh on Friday to celebrate a multi-billion dollar deal between the iconic American company U.S. Steel and the Japanese company Nippon Steel. Trump is touting the deal as a “planned partnership” and a major win for American manufacturing — but the details of what’s actually in the agreement are far from clear.
The prospect of an agreement between the two steel giants has been a matter of debate for more than a year. Former President Joe Biden and then-candidate Trump both opposed the deal during the campaign. Biden later blocked the sale in January before he left office, citing concerns about national security.
But President Trump has changed his tune, announcing on his social media site Truth Social last week that the $14 billion deal will keep U.S. Steel in the U.S.
“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 last Friday. “For many years, the name, “United States Steel” was synonymous with Greatness, and now, it will be again. 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.”
Details about what’s actually in the deal have been sparse. Trump himself seemed to tell reporters last weekend that the deal wasn’t final.
“You know we’ll see what the final is, but they’re going to invest billions of dollars in steel, and it’s a good company, Nissan, it’s a very good company, but we’ll see,” Trump told reporters, apparently mixing up the name of the company with the Japanese car company Nissan.
“But it’s an investment and a partial ownership and it will be controlled by the USA,” he said.
Speculation ahead of the celebration
The White House did not respond to questions about the structure of the deal.
U.S. Steel released a statement after the deal was announced praising Trump for his leadership and committing to further investments in the U.S. But the company has not filed any forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor has it released any details about the agreement.
“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,” the statement read.
Andrew Fulton, a spokesman for U.S. Steel, said he was unable to provide any further information when reached for comment on Thursday.
That has left market analysts who advise investors to speculate. Several industry specialists told NPR they were skeptical that the agreement was substantially different from a structure proposed by Nippon Steel in 2024 for the acquisition of U.S. Steel.
“No matter how the government and or the non-answers from U.S. Steel want to position this, this is an acquisition,” said Gordon Johnson, CEO of GLJ research. “It’s very clearly an acquisition.”
Others speculated that the discussion of a partnership may be a way to obscure Trump’s reversal on the plan. Phil Gibs at Key Bank Capitol Markets said the vague statements seem to be intentional.
“It has to be purposely opaque because there have been so many missteps, misfires, lawsuits, political interference and then we finally get to what looks to a conclusion and we’re even questioning the conclusion,” he said.
Political gain in Pennsylvania
This is one of Trump’s first domestic trips since returning to office and it is no mistake that he is heading to Pennsylvania. The state helped deliver him the presidency in 2024 and remains a critical state for Republicans as they prepare for the midterm elections next year.
The trip also provides the president an opportunity to underscore a major theme of the first few months of his second term: bringing foreign investment to the U.S. through onshoring manufacturing.
But the murky details of the agreement may complicate his victory lap. The United Steel Workers union released a statement this week questioning the deal.
“At this time, we cannot say whether the ‘planned partnership’ described in Friday’s message on Truth Social or news reports since then represents any meaningful change from the merger proposed in 2023, under which Nippon Steel would acquire U.S. Steel and make it a wholly owned subsidiary,” the statement said. “Our core concerns about Nippon Steel — a foreign-owned corporation with a documented history of violating U.S. trade laws — remain as strong and valid today as ever, and that is so whether U.S. Steel and Nippon adhere to the same deal that they have pursued since December 2023 or whether they tweak the terms to satisfy concerns in Washington.”
Democratic politicians from the state, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, are offering very tentative statements. Shapiro spoke directly with Trump in recent weeks and stopped short of embracing the deal.
“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,” Shapiro said in a statement.
Politicians and analysts all said they’ll be watching the president’s trip, looking for some clues about the details.
