Final Thoughts

We have a special addition to the agenda that I’m excited to announce today. U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt will speak on the opening day of the Summit about the partnership between the iconic Pittsburgh-based steelmaker and Nippon Steel.

Attendees will get an inside look at how two industry giants are coming together to reshape the steel landscape — and why the future of U.S. Steel looks both better AND bigger. And as U.S. Steel sees it, the alliance will also unlock new levels of innovation and global competitiveness.

Sound interesting? You can see the latest agenda here and register for Summit here.

As I see it, Burritt’s speech couldn’t be timelier. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel officially cemented their $14.9-billion partnership on June 18. The Japanese steelmaker – the fourth largest on Earth – plans to invest another $11 billion in U.S. Steel. It will be exciting to learn more about what comes next.

Billions into the Valley?!

I’m from Pittsburgh originally. And let me tell you, no one (or no one I knew) was talking about investing billions in “The Valley” when I was coming up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Sure, my grandfather had told his sons in the ‘50s that the future was in steel, not on his farm. But my uncles, some of whom worked at those mills, told me that whatever the future was, it was not in steel.

And, so, like a lot of Pittsburghers of that time, I left. (A measure of this exodus is how many ‘Terrible Towels’ show up at Pittsburgh Steelers’ away games.) Even so, I still have a watercolor on my desk, which I got from my dad, of Clairton Coke Works. And I still have my grandma’s Terrible Towel.

While I’ve never worked in a mill, I didn’t exactly follow my uncles’ advice. I’ve spent a lot of my professional career writing about steel. And I live on the South Side of Chicago, where I can see across Lake Michigan to Cleveland-Cliffs’ Indiana Harbor steel mill.

So, I’ll be excited to hear not only about the plans for Mon Valley but also Gary Works, Big River Steel, and the rest of U.S. Steel’s operations. Maybe even some new details about a new mill?

Themes for the journey

It’s been a long journey. I think back to Steel Summit in 2023. News that U.S. Steel was for sale broke on a Sunday, just a week before the conference started. Not many (any?) of us expected to be covering the sale almost two years later. And I’m glad we will complete the orbit with Burritt talking at the Summit this year.

You’ll notice a few subjects threading throughout Steel Summit. Trump, tariffs, and trade policy, of course. Those were also major themes at our Tampa Steel Conference in February. That feels like a distant galaxy now, in large part because the trade landscape can change so drastically from one month to the next.

Another big theme will be leadership. Astronaut Shane Kimbrough, our first speaker, will discuss the lessons he learned – about high-stakes problem solving and perseverance – while leading NASA missions.

Space is also a theme. Or at least thinking beyond the day-to-day. Walking in space and running an iconic American steelmaker don’t have much in common on the face of it. But I think both Kimbrough and Burritt will be able to speak about navigating through complicated, stressful situations – and coming out successfully on the other side.

With that in mind, I’ll be curious to hear how Burritt helped bring the historic partnership with Nippon Steel across the finish line. Maybe he’ll also discuss who else – both inside and outside the company – was key to making the deal happen. And I’m curious to hear how he sees U.S. Steel’s role in the world five, 10, even 20 years from now.

Because, ultimately, that’s what we want you to come away with: Not just the market intelligence that will guide you through the next quarter and the next year, but also with the tools to take your own moonshot – whatever that means for you and your company.

And in the meantime, thank you to all of you who have already registered for the Summit and to those who subscribe to our newsletter. We truly appreciate your business.