Crunch time for Japan’s Nippon Steel in race to complete US Steel takeover before Trump 2.0
Analysts say Nippon Steel remains confident as it pushes for the deal to go through, despite Trump’s vow to block it
Japan’s Nippon Steel is racing to complete its US$15 billion acquisition of US Steel before Donald Trump returns to the presidency, as his threats to block the deal and surging protectionist sentiment in the United States cast doubt on its viability.
“The Japanese side still believes that the deal makes sense and that if they can brush aside the nationalist emotions, the economics make it a good deal for US Steel and the workers,” said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo.
“But my sense is that this is not about logic but still about nationalism,” he told This Week in Asia. “Trump’s position is that he is the great defender of manufacturing jobs from foreign takeovers.”
Nippon Steel announced in December 2023 that it had reached an agreement to acquire US Steel, although the United Steelworkers union said it strongly opposed the deal over feared job losses.
What had initially appeared to be a relatively straightforward purchase was further complicated by the US presidential election, with both Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris and Trump stating during the campaign that they would not permit the sale to go ahead on the grounds that steel was a strategic national industry.
Those statements were widely seen as playing to the electorate, however, particularly in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, where US Steel is headquartered.
