Trump reiterates his opposition to Nippon Steel’s takeover of US Steel

(Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that a series of tax incentives and tariffs will revitalize storied American company US Steel, as he expressed his opposition to Nippon Steel’s planned $15 billion purchase of the company affirmed.

“I am absolutely opposed to the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being purchased by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

“I will stop this deal from happening. Buyer beware!!!”

Nippon Steel hopes to complete the deal before Trump retakes the White House on January 20, despite opposition from President Joe Biden and a powerful US union.

In a statement Tuesday following Trump’s comments, Nippon Steel said it would invest as much as $2.7 billion in U.S. Steel’s union operations, safeguard union jobs and share technological innovations.

“Nippon Steel is committed to protecting and expanding US Steel in ways that strengthen American industry, the resilience of the domestic supply chain and U.S. national security,” it said.

Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba wrote to Biden, who referred the deal to a government panel that reviews foreign investments for national security risks and asked him to approve the transaction, sources said.

The deadline for review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is this month. CFIUS could approve the deal, possibly with measures to address national security concerns, or recommend that the president block it. It could also lengthen the review.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Additional reporting by Katya Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Michelle Price and Edwina Gibbs)