Nippon Steel says shares view with Washington that US Steel deal will boost American industry

Nippon Steel’s president said on Monday that the Japanese steelmaker and the US government share a mutual understanding that its planned acquisition of US Steel will strengthen the American steel industry and manufacturing sector.

“In my opinion, the US government and we are moving closer to a mutual understanding that our acquisition of US Steel will help strengthen the US steel industry and manufacturing through investment, including equity participation,” Nippon Steel president Tadashi Imai told reporters.

Japan’s biggest steelmaker and US Steel will continue negotiations with the US government to reach an agreement on the terms of the equity purchase and future investment plans, he added, while declining to provide any further details.

The administration of US President Donald Trump filed a motion to extend two deadlines in US Steel and Nippon Steel’s lawsuit against a US national security panel to give the government more time to wrap up merger talks with the firms, a filing showed last week.

The filing is the clearest indication that Trump may allow the deal, scuttled by his predecessor Joe Biden, to proceed in some form.

In February, Trump, alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Oval Office, said that Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion bid for US Steel would take the form of an investment instead of a purchase.

Trump also said in mid-February that he would not mind if Nippon Steel took a minority stake in US Steel.

Imai, however, said late last month that the Japanese company’s current merger agreement with US Steel will serve as a starting point for discussions with the US government including the Department of Commerce.

(By Yuka Obayashi and Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Saad Sayeed)