“We don’t want to see it go to Japan,” Trump said Wednesday. “We love Japan,” he added.
President Donald Trump said on April 9 that he didn’t want to see US steel companies go to Japan, suggesting he wouldn’t support Japanese-based Japanese steel bids for American steel manufacturers.
U.S. Steel stocks fell 13% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after Trump’s latest comments.
“We don’t want to see it go to Japan,” Trump said Wednesday. “We love Japan,” he added.
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“We don’t want it to go to Japan or elsewhere. We work with them,” the president said.
The Epoch Times contacted the White House to clarify the administration’s stance on the potential merger and did not receive a response by the time of publication.
After Biden moved to stop the merger, US Steel and Nippon Steel sued the Foreign Investment Commission in the United States, alleging that the former president influenced the committee’s decision and violated its right to fair review.
After its first announcement in December 2023, the merger was scrutinized from both sides of the political spectrum, particularly as both Trump and Biden were scheduled for a rematch in the November 2024 election. Before Biden dropped out of the race last July, both he and Trump had vowed to block the purchase of US steel.
Others, including local leaders in steel-producing regions such as Pennsylvania and Indiana, have defended the deal with concern over the risk of losing jobs without fresh capital.
The companies claimed that Biden is opposed to the contract as a candidate for reelection, allowing them to secure support from the United Steelworkers Coalition, located at the headquarters of US Steel in Pennsylvania’s major battlefield state. The Biden administration defended a review of mergers as being important for protecting security, infrastructure and supply chains.
In March, the Trump administration filed a motion extending two deadlines in the lawsuit that would provide the government with additional time to enter into merger negotiations with businesses.
Later on Monday, the administration and businesses asked the Court of Appeal to suspend the suit until June 5th, noting that the process could “fully resolve” the company’s claims, as they would reconsider the merger with the US Foreign Investment Commission.
Nippon Steel and US Steel did not respond to requests for comment at each publishing time.
Chase Smith and Reuters contributed to this report.
