Trump approves Nippon-U.S. Steel deal, USW cries foul

Shares of U.S. Steel rose in after-hours trading on Friday on the news.

Both the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker and the Japanese steelmaker cheered the development.

“This partnership will bring a massive investment that will support our communities and families for generations to come,” they said in a joint statement. “We look forward to putting our commitments into action to make American steelmaking great again.”

The deal hinges on U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel pledging to enter a national security agreement (NSA) with the US government, according to the executive order.

The NSA stipulates that the companies must make approximately $11 billion in new investments by 2028, Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel said. Some of that money will be earmarked for a “greenfield project that would be completed after 2028,” they added.

The companies did not specify what that greenfield project might be. But there have been reports that Nippon Steel could invest as much as $4 billion to build a new mill in the US.

The deal also features a “golden share” that gives the US government a 51% stake in U.S. Steel.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a post on X on Saturday said the golden share ensures that U.S. Steel’s headquarters remain in Pittsburgh, that the name of the company will remain “U.S. Steel”, and that Nippon cannot reduce or delay its planned investments in the company.

Lutnick said the golden share also prevents Nippon from transferring jobs outside the US, from closing or idling plants “before certain timeframes,” and from sourcing certain materials outside the U.S.

USW pledges to continue fight

The United Steelworkers (USW), which has opposed a the Nippon deal since it was announced in December 2023, said on Saturday that it had not yet received a copy of the “purported agreement” between Nippon Steel, U.S. Steel, and the US government.

The USW also blasted President Trump for supporting the merger after “more than a year of the president speaking forcefully against it.”

“Details matter: Neither the government nor the companies have publicly identified what all the terms of the proposed transaction are,” USW International President David McCall and USW Negotiating Committee Chair Mike Millsap said in a letter to union members.

The USW said it would fight to make sure that Nippon Steel honors the investment commitments it has made. And part of that fight could come next summer. The union noted that its current labor contract with U.S. Steel expires on Sept. 1, 2026.

USS and the USW last negotiated a contract in 2022. The process was contentious and stretched past the contract expiration date.