President Donald Trump announced Friday that U.S. Steel will move forward with a major partnership involving Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel, a long-anticipated deal he says will deliver a significant boost to the American economy.
“This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs and add $14 billion to the U.S. economy,” Trump wrote in a statement shared on social media. “The bulk of that investment will occur in the next 14 months.”
While the announcement did not provide specifics regarding the structure or timeline of the deal, nor a detailed breakdown of the projected job figures, the statement marks the clearest indication yet of support from Trump for a transpacific industrial alliance between two of the world’s largest steel producers.
U.S. Steel, headquartered in Pittsburgh, currently employs approximately 22,000 workers globally, with around 14,000 based in North America. The company has long been viewed as a symbol of American manufacturing strength and a key player in domestic steel production.
The proposed U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel partnership comes amid growing political and economic interest in revitalizing American manufacturing and expanding domestic infrastructure capabilities. Trump’s emphasis on the job creation potential and multibillion-dollar investment signals a strategic positioning of the deal as a win for the U.S. labor market and industrial growth.
Though formal terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed, industry analysts say the partnership could enhance production capacity, expand research and development in green steel technologies, and solidify supply chain cooperation between the U.S. and Japan at a time of increasing global competition in the metals sector.
Trump did not clarify whether the partnership represents a merger, acquisition, or joint venture. However, his endorsement may signal political support that could ease regulatory hurdles should a more formal deal structure be submitted for review.
The announcement comes just months after earlier reports suggested Nippon Steel had been exploring deeper ties with U.S. manufacturers, and follows a period of shifting dynamics in the global steel market driven by tariff policies, supply chain realignments, and environmental pressures.
