Former President Trump vowed to block the sale of U.S. Steel to the Japanese Nippon Steel Corporation if he secures a second term in the White House.
“I would block it, I think it’s a horrible thing. When Japan buys U.S. Steel, I would block it instantaneously. Absolutely,” he told reporters Wednesday after meeting with the Teamsters union in Washington.
Trump did not say how he planned to block the deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel.
“We saved the steel industry. Now, U.S. Steel is being bought by Japan. So terrible. But yeah, we want to bring jobs back to the country. And sometimes tariffs can do that. But we will bring back millions of jobs to our country,” Trump said.
Nippon Steel announced last year that it would acquire U.S. Steel Corp. in a $14.9 billion deal — a move that was sharply criticized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The Biden administration said in December that the sale of U.S. Steel deserves “serious scrutiny.”
“However, [President Biden] also believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned company by a foreign entity—even one from a close ally—appears to deserve serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability,” Lael Brainard, director of Biden’s National Economic Council, said in a statement.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who noted that he lives right next to a U.S. Steel plant in Braddock, vowed at the time to do anything he could do to stop the deal.
“It’s absolutely outrageous that U.S. Steel has agreed to sell themselves to a foreign company. Steel is always about security — both our national security and the economic security of our steel communities. I am committed to doing anything I can do, using my platform and my position, to block this foreign sale.”
In a joint statement responding to Trump’s comments, U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel emphasized that no jobs will be lost as a result of the sale.
“In addition to honoring all collective-bargaining agreements currently in place with the unions, Nippon Steel has pledged that no jobs will be lost as a result of the transaction, it will maintain the iconic U.S. Steel name and branding,” the joint statement read, adding that it will also keep its Pittsburgh headquarters.
The statement also said the companies “welcome the review of our transaction by relevant regulatory bodies.”
Updated at 1:50 pm.