Nippon still working to salvage U.S. Steel deal

One of the Japanese steelmaker’s top leaders told reporters in Tokyo he plans to meet with federal officials in the U.S.

Nippon Steel plans to meet with federal officials to work out a solution to the U.S. Steel takeover, and will use the existing merger agreement as a starting point in negotiations.

The Japanese steelmaker’s chief operating officer, Tadashi Imai, unveiled the plan to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Imai’s stance will likely set up Nippon for some haggling with the Trump administration as it tries to preserve part or all of its $14.9 billion merger agreement with U.S. Steel.

The president hasn’t signaled any plans to outright reverse the decision by his predecessor, Joe Biden, to block the deal, but he’s left the door open to a relationship between the companies.

At a joint press conference earlier this month with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishibia, Trump announced Nippon’s acquisition bid would instead take the form of an investment.

A week later, Trump said he would not mind if Nippon took a minority stake in the Pittsburgh-based steel maker. Imai noted some control of the company would be necessary for Nippon to invest.

“Only by making an equity investment, we can make a major (capital) spending decision,” he said.

Nippon and U.S. Steel are also engaged in a legal effort to preserve their agreement, asking a federal appeals court to order a second national security review. The companies claim Biden tainted the first review to secure his preferred outcome.

Litigation will take an expedited track, according to the companies, suggesting the court will reach a

decision before the June 18 deadline given by the Biden administration to unwind the deal.

If the companies are successful, Trump could choose to simply permit the deal to go through following the new review.