McCormick says U.S. Steel would stay under domestic control in Nippon merger

by Peter Hall, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
May 28, 2025

Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick said Wednesday a pending merger between U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel would preserve America’s control of the company and bring billions of dollars to Allegheny County’s Monongahela River Valley.

In an interview on CNBC, McCormick said the company’s control structure would be subject to a national security agreement with the federal government. The deal was in limbo for much of last year as President Joe Biden awaited a recommendation from the Council on Foreign Investment in the United States over the security implications of a sale. 

McCormick said the CEO and a majority of the board of directors for the American subsidiary of Nippon would be U.S. citizens. He also described a “golden share” of the company that would require U.S. government approval of a number of the directors.

“That will allow the United States to ensure production levels aren’t cut and things like that, and  also allow the investment to come to the Mon Valley,” McCormick said, noting the agreement would save about 10,000 U.S. jobs, including nearly 4,000 in Pennsylvania.

Of the $14 billion that Nippon would invest in U.S. Steel, at least $2.4 billion would be in the Mon Valley, McCormick said. That would include the construction of a new electric arc furnace that McCormick claimed would create another 10,000 jobs in the building trades. 

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“This is being extremely well received in Pennsylvania,” he said. “The steel workers there are wildly excited about it, and I think it’s going to be a great thing for my state.”

But, United Steelworkers (USW), the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker’s largest employees union, expressed concern that details of the proposed tie-up remain sparse. USW said it has received no assurance the new investment would be directed to union-represented plants or toward “genuinely new capital improvements as opposed  to routine repair and maintenance.”

“Further, Nippon has not disputed reports that suggest up to $4 billion of the $14 billion would be earmarked for greenfield operations — and our members already know that our plants are not ‘greenfields,’ and generally that means non-union,” USW leaders said in a statement. 

In a post Friday on Truth Social, President Donald Trump described the deal as a “planned partnership” between U.S. Steel and Nippon, which began courting the American company in late 2023 with a $14 billion all-cash offer. Trump is scheduled to speak Friday evening at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Plant in West Mifflin. 

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel did not respond to a request for comment. 

Trump, who has vacillated between support and opposition to the deal, said in the post the companies had negotiated an arrangement that would keep the headquarters in Pittsburgh and that his tariff policies would ensure “steel will once again, forever, MADE IN AMERICA.”

The USW noted Trump’s post promised much of the $14 billion investment would occur in the next 14 months. That timeline would closely align with the expiration of the union’s labor agreement.

“Our core concerns about Nippon Steel — a foreign-owned corporation with a documented history of violating U.S. trade laws — remain as strong and valid today as ever,” the USW statement said. 

Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday that he was “cautiously optimistic” following Trump’s announcement, but added that much work remains to be done. He said he had engaged with elected leaders of both parties and union officials to understand what they were proposing, make sure it benefits Pennsylvania and protects the commonwealth’s workers and steelmaking industry.

“I don’t want this to be something our kids read about in the history books. I want this to be a place where people today want to go work and where their kids want to go work tomorrow,” Shapiro said, adding that he spoke with Trump about the merger when he called in the days  after the April 13 arson attack on the Governor’s Residence.

Shapiro said he emphasized, “the need to make sure the investment was richer, that the jobs would be protected, and that there would be a pathway to growth.”

In response to Trump’s post, Democratic U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, whose Allegheny County district includes the Mon Valley, said consideration of workers and their communities must be central to the deal.

“What remains non-negotiable is our commitment to protecting the thousands of union jobs that anchor entire neighborhoods and communities across western Pennsylvania. Our region knows all too well what happens when decisions are made without putting workers, local community investment, and resident health at the center of the conversation,” Lee said.

Among U.S. Steel’s two dozen locations, three separate plants in the Mon Valley outside Pittsburgh and one in Fairless Hills, outside Philadelphia, comprise the Mon Valley Works.

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