Published: 4:42am, 24 May 2025Updated: 5:34am, 24 May 2025
Shares of steelmaker US Steel skyrocketed as much as 24 per cent on Friday after US President Donald Trump announced his support for a “partnership” with Nippon Steel.
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“US Steel will REMAIN in America, and keep its Headquarters in the Great City of Pittsburgh,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, adding that the “planned partnership” between America’s US Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel would create at least 70,000 jobs and add US$14 billion to the US economy.
It was not immediately clear what the terms of this new partnership were, and neither company responded to a request for comment.
Trump’s remarks are the latest in a long saga that began in December 2023, when US Steel and Nippon Steel announced plans for a US$14.9 billion merger.
The deal was originally meant to close by the end of 2024’s third financial quarter, but was held up by former US president Joe Biden, who blocked it in his last weeks in office on national security grounds.
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The two firms then filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s “illegal interference” in the transaction.