The steel deal is not yet a reality
Ronald Reagan’s adage about the old Soviet Union should maybe apply to President Trump’s recent sweeping declaration involving U.S. Steel, Japan’s Nippon Steel, and the future of American steelmaking in the Mon Valley and elsewhere: “Trust but verify.”
The president’s May 30 rally at U.S. Steel’s Irvin mill was a PR spectacular that may turn out to be less than advertised.
Trump himself served notice that things maybe weren’t as he portrayed them. Returning to Washington, D.C., from West Mifflin, the president admitted to reporters that despite his pronouncement of a “blockbuster agreement,” he had not signed off on an agreement; indeed, he said, “I haven’t seen that final agreement yet.”
Some background: Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion offer to buy U.S. Steel during the Biden administration triggered a review by the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), whose findings go to the president for a final decision.
Following the 2024 election, President Biden blocked the deal, not an unsurprising development as he had been saying for months that the purchase of U.S. Steel by a foreign entity posed a threat to national security.
Amidst a lawsuit by Nippon Steel, Biden announced a six-month extension of his decision, which gave the parties an opportunity to possibly adjust the purchase agreement. It also gave the incoming Trump administration time to consider the matter.
It’s worth noting that candidate and then President-elect Trump agreed with Biden about the U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel sale. On his Truth Social account in December 2024, Trump served notice that “as president, I will block this deal from happening. Buyer Beware!!!”
A week ago Friday, President Trump reversed course, sort of. It’s not clear whether Nippon is purchasing U.S. Steel or entering into a “partnership” that, among other things, includes a provision that gives the government veto power over decisions affecting vital U.S. interests and domestic steelmaking.
“You’re going to stay an American company, but you’ll have a great partner,” Trump told the rally crowd. “Oh, you’re going to be happy. There’s going to be a lot of money coming your way.”
The president said Nippon Steel has committed to spending $2.6 billion to upgrade U.S. Steel plants in West Mifflin, Braddock, and Clairton, and $7 billion at other locations across the country.
Trump boasted that the Mon Valley would be turning in its “rust belt” for a “gold belt.”
If it turns out that way, Trump likely will have cemented his legacy in western Pennsylvania, both economically and politically. Nothing pays long-term political dividends like steady, well-paying jobs, a fact that Democrats discovered during the New Deal and World War II years.
Local mayors like Washington’s JoJo Burgess are banking on Trump’s word. A Democrat who supported President Biden to the hilt, Burgess told this paper’s Mike Jones, “An investment in our mills is an investment in our communities…. Just because I supported President Biden doesn’t mean I’m not going to thank someone who did what was needed.”
Burgess works at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works
Have Democrats muddied the waters sufficiently to deny Trump full credit if things do turn out just so? That’s not likely. Historically, the party in the White House wins the day.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has consistently insisted he was not on board with Biden’s (and Trump’s) opposition to the original U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel arrangement.
Then, on May 23, Shapiro, a Democrat, said, “We have the opportunity to deliver historic investments” that will “ensure” the future of steelmaking in the Mon Valley.
On May 29, the Washington Examiner reported that Shapiro spoke to Trump in April about the matter. “I actually think he was surprised to hear me talk about the need to get this [deal] done,” the governor told the paper’s Salena Zito.
On Tuesday, Forbes aired a video of Shapiro saying that “the ball” remains” in President Trump’s “court…. No one has signed the documents. He has yet to review the final document.”
Here’s the bottom line: Following Trump’s West Mifflin rally, United Steelworkers of America president David McCall noted, “Trust nothing until you see it in writing…. Speeches are easy, binding commitments are hard.”
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.