President-elect Donald Trump was directly urged by U.S. Steel’s CEO to reconsider a Japanese company’s $15 billion offer to acquire the American steelmaker.
Following the failure of a crucial business-review panel to agree on whether the acquisition posed any dangers, President Joe Biden halted the agreement between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel on Friday, citing national security concerns. The administration was sued by both businesses for the decision.
Trump has also questioned the planned sale on Monday and opposed Nippon’s acquisition of the once-iconic Pittsburgh-based company. However, U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt told CNBC on Tuesday that he thinks he can win over Trump’s commercial instincts.
Our new president will approach this from a different angle. Burritt stated, “We understand what his current views are, but he’s a smart guy.”
“I hope Trump will see how this helps make U.S. Steel great again,” he continued. In keeping with Trump’s repeated claims throughout the 2016 campaign that Mexico would foot the bill for a wall along the southern U.S. border, which never materialized, he said, “And honestly, Nippon is going to pay for it.”
Requests for comment on Burritt’s comments were not immediately answered by the White House or the Trump-Vance transition team.
In an attempt to gain favor with the future government, Trump has seen a flood of corporate titans visit his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida since winning the election. Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, were among the numerous guests. Additionally, several of its CEOs directly as well as Apple, Amazon, OpenAI, Uber, and Meta have donated millions of dollars to Trump’s inaugural committee.
In late December, Biden received a letter from 20 mayors and community leaders in Indiana and Pennsylvania urging him to approve the arrangement. On the other hand, Biden was under constant pressure from United Steelworkers International to thwart the deal. The union hailed the president’s decision Friday and stated last week that it has “no doubt that it’s the right move for our members and our national security.”
According to Burritt, any possible national security issues with the deal could be resolved with ease. He claimed that Biden had ruined the process by making it apparent from the beginning that he would support unions and by preventing the review from proceeding as it should have.
Biden’s worries that the company should continue to be owned and run in the United States for supply chain and national security considerations were also rebuffed by the head of U.S. Steel. The truth is that it improves economic security, employment security, and national security. He claimed that it actually expands the company.
Burritt refrained from speculating about the future of U.S. Steel in the event that the company’s lawsuits or the incoming administration fail to alter the situation. Nippon is the best in the integrated mill market, and they will do fantastic things for the people in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and everywhere else we do business.
Nippon Steel has stated that there is no cause to abandon the agreement. This is not simply the most crucial issue for the business plan of our organization. The chairman and CEO of Nippon told reporters Monday night that he was “convinced that this is something very beneficial for both Japan and the United States.”
In their challenges, both businesses have made clear that no president has ever forbade a purchase by a Japanese company—one of our closest allies.
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