President Donald Trump just gave America an economic shot in the arm.
On Friday, Trump announced that he would allow Japanese manufacturer Nippon Steel to buy Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion plus an estimated $14 billion more in facility upgrades and other investments.
Best of all, it will save thousands of manufacturing jobs and create many more temporary jobs as the upgrades are made and at least one training facility is built.
Trump initially opposed the purchase when it was announced in December 2023, concerned that Japanese ownership of the US-based manufacturer would hurt domestic manufacturing and ship jobs overseas. But in April, he tasked the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) with reviewing the deal again, and now he has agreed to let it go forward.
This merger is a big win for America, for conservatives, and for Trump himself.
First, this partnership means job security for U.S. Steel workers, who have watched their industry and their communities wither for half a century thanks in large part to increased imports and reduced domestic demand. But this deal holds the promise of new jobs in manufacturing at last. Trump himself says Nippon’s purchase of U.S. Steel will create as many as 70,000 new jobs.
And jobs today are just the start. Steel employees each stand to receive $5,000 from Nippon, and a training facility will be constructed in western Pennsylvania.
Second, Trump’s approval of the deal is a win for conservatives, because it shows costly, taxpayer-funded “green” energy for the boondoggle that it is. Ironically, we don’t have to look far for a comparison. The Biden administration gave $575 million in green grants to Ohio-based steel manufacturer Cleveland-Cliffs (which also considered a bid to buy U.S. Steel). Cleveland-Cliffs is floundering, recently having cut 1,200 jobs in Minnesota and Michigan, with plans to axe 950 more in Pennsylvania and Illinois this year. Propping up sagging businesses with uncertain green government grants simply doesn’t work.
Apparently, investors agree. After Friday’s announcement, U.S. Steel’s shares jumped 21.2 percent.
Third – and the president will love this – the Nippon-U.S. Steel partnership is a big win for Trump. It shows his commitment to bringing back manufacturing jobs and justified his tough negotiating style. It also bolsters our alliance with Japan and outflanks China, the latter of which is currently the global leader in steel manufacturing.
And from a point of pure self-interest, it doesn’t hurt politically to deliver permanent jobs to big-number electoral-map states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.
Trump’s insistence on tariffs has sent shock waves through the global markets and drawn criticism from Democrats and even many Republicans. But without the threat of tariffs, which hit steel imports particularly hard, this deal would have been much less favorable to US industry. With Japan already at the negotiating table to lower tariffs before the current pause is lifted later this summer, Nippon had even more reason to raise its initial offer—by several billion dollars—to gain Trump’s support for the deal. Trump’s hardline tactics may make markets nervous, but they put America in a powerful strategic position even with our allies.
Many presidents have to fight for even one win that the public will remember, let alone reap huge benefits from. By giving his blessing to this partnership between Nippon and U.S. Steel, Trump has logged an impressive triple-win. The U.S. steel industry shouldn’t get tired of winning for a good long time.
Gregory Rohrbough is a political commentator and former lobbyist.
Image via Pxhere.