Trump returns to Western Pa. to champion deal involving U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel

President Donald Trump is returning to Western Pennsylvania on Friday to champion what he has described as a $14 billion partnership between U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel.

Trump promised a “BIG rally” last week in a Truth Social post announcing the agreement between the Pittsburgh-based company and Japan’s largest steelmaker. Trump is scheduled to speak at 5 p.m. at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Works in West Mifflin.

U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, told CNBC this week that the arrangement will allow Nippon to invest in U.S. Steel while guaranteeing that U.S. Steel’s headquarters will remain in Pittsburgh. It will have an American CEO, a majority of board members from the United States and U.S. government approval for certain actions.

Many of these stipulations were previously floated by Nippon as ways to assuage national security concerns. Two national security reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States — one under former President Joe Biden, another under Trump — identified at least some concerns with Nippon’s proposed $14.9 billion takeover of U.S. Steel.

Biden blocked the sale in January, but Trump reopened the door to a deal in April by ordering a second review.

The Japanese firm has sweetened its proposal since late 2023, taking on an additional investment pledge that has swelled from $1.4 billion to $14 billion.

Of that, $2.4 billion is earmarked for U.S. Steel facilities in the Pittsburgh area and a new research and development center in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University.

In a statement released Thursday, Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian said, “I applaud the current administration (and) leaders in the commonwealth, especially Sen. Dave McCormick, for their leadership in securing this opportunity. This is a win for Pittsburgh and all of Pennsylvania, and we look forward to expanding our partnership with U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel to maximize the promise of this investment.”

Leadership for the United Steelworkers union, which represents more than 3,000 U.S. Steel workers in the Mon Valley, has been critical of any cooperation with Nippon.

In a statement Thursday, the union said it was unsure what the partnership means, noting it has not been a part of recent “closed-door discussions.” The union said Nippon is a foreign company with a track record of violating U.S. trade laws.

Rank-and-file steel workers, on the other hand, have been much more receptive to Nippon control and investment. Many analysts have said the outdated Mon Valley Works is in desperate need of a capital infusion to keep competitive production — and jobs — going.

Western Pennsylvania was a frequent stop for Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign. After losing Pennsylvania to Biden in 2020, Trump rebounded to win the state by 1.7 percentage points in 2024.

Trump survived an assassination attempt that occurred July 13 in Butler County. Gunman Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, opened fire on Trump from a nearby rooftop before being shot and killed by the Secret Service. One spectator was killed, two others were critically injured and a bullet grazed one of Trump’s ears.

At a September rally at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex in Indiana, Pa., Trump told a crowd of about 5,000 people, “We are going to keep U.S. Steel right here in America. We have to make U.S. Steel great again.”

Trump returned to the site of the assassination attempt for an Oct. 5 rally that drew an estimated 21,000 people.

The president held the penultimate rally of his campaign the night before the Nov. 4 election, attracting about 11,000 people to Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena before making his last campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Mich.