Nippon Steel Seals $14.1 Billion U.S. Steel Deal With Trump Veto Power

Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. has completed its acquisition of United States Steel Corp. for about $14.1 billion, ending an 18-month saga that saw the deal blocked by the Biden administration before being cleared by President Donald Trump. The transaction makes the Pittsburgh-based company a wholly owned subsidiary and removes its stock from the New York Stock Exchange.

Under the agreement Nippon Steel paid $55 a share and pledged roughly $11 billion of capital spending in the United States by 2028 to modernise mills and expand production. U.S. Steel will retain its name, headquarters and “Mined, Melted and Made in America” branding, with a board majority and key executives required to remain U.S. citizens.

Approval hinged on a National Security Agreement that grants Washington an unprecedented single “golden share”. The share allows the sitting president or a designated official to appoint an independent director and veto decisions such as plant closures, relocation of the headquarters, reductions in the promised investments or transfers of jobs and technology overseas. While Donald Trump controls the share during his term, authority will revert to the Treasury and Commerce departments under future presidents.

The compromise, negotiated after a fresh Committee on Foreign Investment review, underscores how national-security scrutiny is reshaping foreign takeovers of critical-industry assets. For Nippon Steel, the deal raises its annual crude-steel capacity to about 86 million tons, bolstering its position against Chinese and European rivals and giving it a significant foothold in a U.S. market protected by 50 percent steel tariffs.