By Trevor Hunnicutt, Nandita Bose
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday Japan’s Nippon Steel will not buy U.S. Steel and would instead invest in the company, which would dramatically reshape the $15 billion merger bid that had been in negotiation for more than a year.
Trump did not give additional details. U.S. Steel did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Nippon Steel declined comment.
Nippon Steel “is going to be doing something very exciting about U.S. Steel,” Trump said with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba by his side at the White House. “They’ll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase.”
The U.S. president mistakenly referred to Nippon Steel as “Nissan,” the Japanese automaker, during his remarks, a White House official said.
It was unclear what the details of the investment would be, but Trump said he would meet with the head of Nippon Steel next week and he would be involved “to mediate and arbitrate.”
Last year, Trump said “I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan.”
During separate remarks on Friday, Trump told reporters he hasn’t changed his mind on his opposition to the deal.
A $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel was blocked last month, by former President Joe Biden.
On Thursday, Trump met U.S. Steel Chief Executive David Burritt at the White House to discuss the deal, which is opposed by the United Steelworkers union.
The proposed merger became highly politicized ahead of November’s U.S. presidential election, with both Biden and Trump pledging to kill it. Nippon Steel put forth a series of concessions to try to sway public opinion in favor of the deal.
U.S. Steel shares ended down about 6% on Friday.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Nandita Bose, Alexandra Alper and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Anna Driver)
