President Trump said on Friday that Nippon Steel was planning to make a major investment in American steel after the Biden administration had moved the $ 14 billion of $ 14 billion last month on the basis of the fact that it was a threat for national security.
Such an investment, when it comes to ahead, could be a breakthrough for a transaction that the American political opposition encountered.
Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. And Mr. Trump agreed that US Steel should remain owned by America and have to be operated. Mr. Biden's decision last month to block the deal, left the fate of US Steel in Limbo, where the company said that it would close the mills and dismiss employees.
The rejection also sheds a cloud over the relationships between the United States and Japan, which are traditional allies.
“The concept was not psychologically good,” said Mr Trump, who spoke at a press conference on Friday, about Nippon Steel's plan to buy our steel.
US Steel is located in Pennsylvania, an important election battleground state, and the powerful United SteelWorkers Union neatly opposed the deal. The trade union repeated those worries on Friday.
“Our trade union has not had contact with a company or the administration with regard to reports from a Nippon investment in American steel,” said David McCall, president of United SteelWorkers International. “Our concern about Nippon's constant interest in American steel, however, remains unchanged.”
He added: “While we are waiting for the details of the proposed investment, we encourage President Trump to continue to protect the future in the long term of the domestic steel industry by looking for American alternatives instead.”
Mr. Trump said on Friday that he was, unlike, that Nippon owns the company, but that an investment was 'very exciting'. During a press conference, he spoke with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan in the White House, where the two leaders traded trade, rates and investments in the United States.
Mr. Trump did not describe the details of the investment, including how much Nippon could put in American steel and how such a scheme would have been structured. He said he would “mediate and arbitrate”.
Mr. Ishiba also spoke optimistic about the idea of an investment.
“Japanese technology will be provided and the products of better quality will be manufactured in the United States,” he said.
A Nippon spokesperson refused to comment and a spokeswoman for US Steel did not immediately return a request for comment.
After Mr Biden had blocked the deal, the companies brought a lawsuit, with the argument that the assessment process carried out by the Foreign Investments Committee in the United States was corrupted by politics. They claimed that American steel workers and the steel industry were damaged because the transaction was blocked.
Lauren Hirsch contributed reporting.
