Trump's US Steel Reversal, Court Win For Harvard, Musk Leaves DOGE
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U.S. Steel is entering a multi-billion dollar partnership with the Japanese competitor Nippon. President Trump campaigned on a promise to block that deal. He now says he approves. So how, if at all, did the agreement change? I'm Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Harvard University says the Trump administration broke the law when it banned international students there. A judge says the students may keep attending for now.
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President Trump travels to Pittsburgh today to celebrate something that he previously said he would not allow. It's a partnership between United States Steel and the Japanese company Nippon Steel. Former President Biden blocked that sale on national security grounds. Candidate Trump also promised to block it, saying that foreign ownership of a company with United States in the name just sounded psychologically bad. Here he was campaigning in Pennsylvania last October.
And I will not approve Japan buying U.S. Steel 70 years ago, the greatest company anywhere in the world.
NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith is here. Tam, good morning. Good morning. Why say yes now?
Well, there had been signs that President Trump was taking a second look at this planned acquisition. It came up when the Japanese prime minister visited the White House in February. And then last month, President Trump ordered a new national security review. Then last week, he announced he was on board with the deal in a social media post saying it would add $14 billion to the U.S. economy and create 70,000 jobs. And significantly, he described it as a, quote, planned partnership that will keep the headquarters of U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh.
OK, so we have a social media post, but what are the details here?
We don't have many. So I called a bunch of industry analysts whose job it is to advise investors, and they said they haven't been able to get clear answers either. But all along, Nippon has made it clear that they aren't going to make this kind of investment unless they are acquiring U.S. Steel and its assets. Gordon Johnson is CEO of GLJ Research.
No matter how the government and or the non-answers from U.S. Steel want to position this, Let me be very clear. This is an acquisition. It's very clearly an acquisition.
And given the expected purchase price, he says it is a very good deal for U.S. steel shareholders and executives. Another analyst I spoke to said their best interpretation of the facts is that Trump is calling it a partnership to avoid looking like he reversed himself on this. And another, Phil Gibbs at KeyBank Capital Markets, put it this way.
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