WASHINGTON — As a GOP U.S. Senator representing Ohio, JD Vance vocally opposed the potential sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel, co-authoring a letter that urged former President Joe Biden to block the deal.
Until he took office, President Donald Trump also opposed a foreign company buying U.S. Steel. In a December post on his Truth Social platform, he said he was “totally against” U.S. Steel being bought by Nippon Steel, and promised to block the deal from happening.
But on Friday, Trump headed to Pennsylvania to tout a deal he announced last week that he said would allow U.S. Steel to remain in the United States and keep its headquarters in Pittsburgh, with Nippon Steel as an investor.
“We’re here to celebrate a blockbuster agreement that will ensure this storied American company stays an American company,” Trump said at a U.S. Steel plant under a banner that said, “The Golden Age.”
Trump said that Nippon approached him repeatedly about a deal, and each incarnation got better for workers.
“They kept asking me over, and I kept rejecting it, no way, no way, no way,” said Trump. “And after about four times, I said, you know, these people really want to do a great thing.”
In his initial announcement Trump described the deal as a “planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 billion dollars to the U.S. economy. The bulk of that investment will occur in the next 14 months.”
Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro told reporters Thursday that U.S. Steel would retain ownership of the company, with Nippon Steel having “some involvement but no control of the company.”
After months of discussions, Nippon offered to raise its investment in U.S. Steel’s infrastructure to $14 billion, Reuters reported last week. That and the promise that U.S. Steel will remain based in the United States, as well as American veto power over various company decisions, nudged Trump to greenlight the purchase, Politico reported.
The letter Vance wrote last year with Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (now Trump’s secretary of state) urged then President Joe Biden to block Nippon Steel from acquiring U.S. Steel, which Biden took action to do.
Cleveland.com has asked Vance’s office about his stance on the current deal.
“We urge you to summon the courage to do the right thing,” Vance’s letter last year said. “Declare whether you will exercise your presidential authority to prohibit or suspend the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon.”
Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, supports the deal.
A statement from Shapiro said he’s worked with “the leadership of Nippon and U.S. Steel, local labor, and federal, state, and local partners to press for the best deal to keep U.S. Steel headquartered in Pittsburgh, protect union jobs, and secure the future of steelmaking in Western Pennsylvania.
He said the deal Trump says he supports will provide the “the opportunity to deliver historic investments, ensure the future of American steelmaking continues to run through the Mon Valley while the headquarters of U.S. Steel remains in Pittsburgh and have our workers, right here in Pennsylvania, continue leading the world with their skill and innovation.”