Trump adviser says Nippon to have ‘no control’ over U.S. Steel after deal

The terms of a deal between iconic U.S. Steel and its Japanese rival, Nippon Steel, became murkier the day before President Donald Trump prepares to herald the partnership in Pittsburgh, with a White House official publicly stating that Nippon will have “no control” over the company.

Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, made the remarks Thursday as he sought to clarify the United States’ involvement in the transaction, which the White House is touting as a “historic deal” orchestrated by Trump. The president has long taken an interest in the arrangement, which he initially opposed in concept but celebrated online in an announcement last week as an opportunity to create 70,000 American jobs and add $14 billion to the U.S. economy.

“Nippon Steel is going to have some involvement, but no control of the company,” Navarro said, speaking to reporters outside the White House.

Navarro declined to elaborate. His statement, however, raised further questions among labor leaders and shareholders about what exactly the Trump administration has proposed – and whether Nippon Steel is in fact willing to agree to a partnership that will cost billions of dollars in investment with no expectation that they will have the final say on U.S. operations.

Earlier this week, Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., offered a few proposed details in an interview with CNBC: To preserve the independence of the American company in a merger, Nippon would be required to choose Americans to fill the roles of CEO and a majority of the company’s board members. The U.S. government would also have a “golden share” in the company, he said, to provide oversight.

Particulars of the long-pending transaction were not disclosed last week when Trump announced the partnership – a culmination of talks that date to at least 2023, when Nippon proposed to buy the U.S. company for about $14.9 billion in a takeover that elicited swift political backlash. Former president Joe Biden moved to block the sale, alleging it could affect U.S. national security. The interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States conducted a review of such implications.

Trump was once publicly opposed, posting to Truth Social in December, “I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan.” He went on to promise: “As President, I will block this deal from happening.”

Last Friday, he wrote, “For many years, the name, ‘United States Steel’ was synonymous with Greatness, and now, it will be again.”

The prospect of a foreign takeover of U.S. Steel has been a controversial prospect for years. U.S. Steel has struggled financially, and the company’s leadership has argued that selling to a larger entity would help protect jobs and ensure that American steel manufacturing could compete on the world stage.

United Steelworkers, the union that represents many of the workers who will be affected by the merger, has expressed skepticism about whether Trump’s characterization of the Nippon-U.S. Steel partnership is feasible.

“Nippon has maintained consistently that it would only invest in U.S. Steel’s facilities if it owned the company outright,” two of the union’s leaders wrote in a letter to membership on Wednesday. “We’ve seen nothing in the reporting over the past few days suggesting that Nippon has walked back from this position.”

Nippon did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday about Navarro’s suggestion that they would have “no control.” In the week since Trump’s announcement about the proposed partnership, the Japanese company has not issued a public statement about its reaction to the proposal.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday morning, though it was not clear whether the proposed steel merger was raised in their conversation.

In the partnership that Trump described in his post to Truth Social, Nippon would pump $14 billion into the 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,” Trump said.

Trump has the support of a number of high-profile Pennsylvania politicians, who say the outside investment will energize the state’s economy.

In a speech on Thursday in York, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said the deal would “protect steelmaking in Pennsylvania – and based on the commitments that Nippon Steel has made to me and seemingly to the White House, that will mean that we are going to see growth in our steelmaking here in Pennsylvania.”

Notably, Shapiro referred to Nippon Steel as “the company that will acquire U.S. Steel” – in contrast with Navarro’s characterization.

U.S. Steel has praised Trump’s role in the negotiations – calling him “a bold leader and businessman who knows how to get the best deal for America” – and thanking him for his “leadership and personal attention.”

But some steelworkers say the lack of clarity about the deal’s terms has left them uneasy.

In the letter sent Wednesday to United Steelworkers’ membership, the union’s international president, David McCall, and the chairman of the negotiating committee, Mike Millsap, said they have few insights into what exactly Trump is proposing and how it’s different from the takeover scenarios on the table previously.

“At this time, we cannot say whether the ‘planned partnership’ described in Friday’s message on Truth Social or news reports since then represents any meaningful change from the merger proposed in 2023, under which Nippon Steel would acquire U.S. Steel and make it a wholly owned subsidiary,” the letter said.

Union representatives have not been involved in any closed-door discussions about the partnership, the writers of the letter pointed out. They questioned whether the new deal – or, at least, Trump’s framing of it – is, in fact, new at all.

“Our core concerns about Nippon Steel – a foreign-owned corporation with a documented history of violating U.S. trade laws – remain as strong and valid today as ever,” they wrote.

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Cat Zakrzewski contributed to this report.