A planned merger of the Japanese and American giants, announced in 2023, has traveled through an election, two presidents and strong union opposition.
A year and a half after Nippon Steel unveiled its $14 billion bid for U.S. Steel, the acquisition could be finally drawing to a close.
Last week, President Trump announced what he called a “partnership” between the Japanese and American steel giants. The statement by Mr. Trump, who had long expressed his opposition to U.S. Steel’s “going to Japan,” was interpreted by many as an endorsement of Nippon Steel’s bid.
Nippon Steel has maintained that it is interested only in an acquisition that makes U.S. Steel a wholly owned subsidiary. The Japanese company has said it plans to share advanced steel-making technology with U.S. Steel and invest billions of dollars in the American manufacturer’s plants.
In recent weeks, Nippon Steel appears to have reached a deal with the Trump administration that is structured in a way that meets its interests and that of the president’s to maintain sufficient American control. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel are waiting for Mr. Trump to sign an executive order overturning one by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. that had blocked the deal.
Mr. Trump is planning a rally in Pittsburgh on Friday when he might make an announcement.
Merger plan was unveiled as election heated up.
When Nippon Steel said in December 2023 that it intended to acquire Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, the backlash in the United States was immediate.
The 2024 presidential election was starting in earnest, and the prospect that a Japanese company might take over a storied U.S. industrial giant, with headquarters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, prompted rare bipartisan agreement. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden came out against it.