The announcement and the visit come after the deal was shot down by both the Biden and Trump administrations.
Last week, President Donald Trump announced that U.S. Steel and Japanese company Nippon Steel would enter into a partnership. The announcement comes after both former President Biden and President Trump blocked the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel over national security reasons.
On Truth Social, Trump announced the deal last week. “This will be a planned partnership between the United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 Billion Dollars to the U.S. Economy. The bulk of that investment will occur in the next 14 months. This is the largest Investment in the History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” the president wrote.
The deal will keep U.S. Steel headquartered in Pittsburgh, according to the president.
President Trump visited the Irvin Plant and announced that U.S. Steel will remain an American company.
Trump was approached by Nippon Steel multiple times for negotiations, and he said he began to take those negotiations seriously when the deal became more ideal for the workers at U.S. Steel.
Trump addressed the crowd, saying, “There is unbelievable spirit for what you’re doing. You’re going to have a tremendous relationship (with Nippon).”
At the event, Trump reiterated the undertones of national security that have been the backdrop of the deal. “If you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country,” he said.
United Steelworkers International President David McCall released a statement following Trump’s speech, saying they were not involved in discussions surrounding the partnership “…nor were we consulted, so we cannot speculate about the meaning of the ‘planned partnership’ between USS and Nippon or the ‘golden share’ that some politicians have claimed will be issued to the federal government.”
“Issuing press releases and making political speeches is easy. Binding commitments are hard. The devil is always in the details, and that is especially true with a bad actor like Nippon Steel that has again and again violated our trade laws, devastating steel communities in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Our members know from decades of negotiating contracts: Trust nothing until you see it in writing,” the statement continued.
After speaking about the partnership announcement, Trump announced that he will double the tariff rate on steel from 25% to 50%.
“Which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States,” Trump said.
