US President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday a series of tax incentives and tariffs will revive storied American firm US Steel, as he reiterated his opposition to Nippon Steel’s planned $15 billion purchase of the company.
“I am totally against the once great and powerful US Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump wrote on his social-media platform Truth Social.
“I will block this deal from happening. Buyer Beware!!!”
Nippon Steel hopes to close the deal before Trump retakes the White House on January 20, despite opposition from President Joe Biden and a powerful US labor union.
In a statement on Tuesday following Trump’s comments, Nippon Steel said it would invest no less than $2.7 billion into US Steel’s unionized facilities, secure union jobs and share technological innovations.
“Nippon Steel is determined to protect and grow US Steel in a manner that reinforces American industry, domestic supply chain resiliency, and US national security,” it said.
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba wrote to Biden, who has referred the deal to a government panel that reviews foreign investments for national security risks, asking him to approve the transaction, sources have said.
The deadline for that Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review is this month. CFIUS could approve the deal, possibly with measures to address national security concerns, or recommend that the president block it. It could also extend the review.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Additional reporting by Katya Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Michelle Price and Edwina Gibbs)
