Despite Trump's strong objections, a Japanese corporation is determined to do this.

Japanese steel corporation Nippon Steel still wants to buy US Steel despite objections from US President Donald Trump.

Japanese steel group Nippon Steel still wants to buy US Steel despite objections from US President Donald Trump. (Source: Kyodo)

Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel is looking to revive plans to buy US Steel, the "giant: American steel," despite President Trump's statement earlier this month that he was only interested in "investment" and pledged not to allow Nippon Steel to take a controlling stake.

After meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru earlier this month, Mr. Trump announced that Nippon Steel no longer wanted to buy US Steel but only wanted to invest in the company.

However, on February 25, Nippon Steel Chairman Tadashi Imai said his company plans to negotiate with US government officials in an effort to revive the merger.

Once a pillar of American industrial might, US Steel has been in decline for decades. Today, the corporation is no longer even the largest or second-largest steelmaker in the United States, let alone the largest steelmaker in the world.

In December 2023, US Steel reached a deal to acquire Nippon Steel for $14 billion, along with billions of dollars in promised investments to upgrade aging steel mills.

But the deal has faced strong opposition from the United Steelworkers union, which represents about 11,000 of the company’s 14,000 American workers. The union said it was concerned about Nippon Steel’s long-term commitment to its remaining plants.

Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves has also said he wants to buy US Steel, promising to move his company headquarters to Pittsburgh, US Steel’s hometown, and to use the US Steel name for the merged company. But Goncalves’s earlier offer was a fraction of what Nippon Steel was offering.

U.S. Steel is also facing contentious labor negotiations next year with the United Steelworkers union. The company has sued the union and Cleveland-Cliffs for trying to block the Nippon Steel deal.

Steel analyst Timna Tanners of Wolfe Research said the outcome of the deal is difficult to predict. Ms. Tanners said the possibility of Nippon Steel acquiring US Steel is very low and believes Cleveland-Cliffs does not have the financial capacity to fulfill the CEO's promise.

Although US Steel management said it would have to close the plants without the Nippon Steel deal, Ms. Tanners said US Steel is still profitable and will become more profitable with steel prices up 20% since Mr. Trump announced the steel tariffs.

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