Business journalists and Wall Street analysts hoping for more details about Donald Trump's support for a deal between U.S. Steel and Japan-based Nippon Steel probably were disappointed by his speech Friday at the American steelmaker's Irvin Plant in West Mifflin.
But Trump gave them something else to think about — the surprise announcement of a doubling in global steel tariffs that he barely paused to discuss. And judging from the enthusiastic reaction of U.S. Steel employees and Trump supporters on hand, naysayers would have been in the minority.
"Pittsburgh very soon will be respected around the world as the steel city again," Trump told the crowd of steelworkers and others who gathered Friday to see and hear him at the plant. "So I want to congratulate you."
Trump announced his support for the combination on social media a week ago — and many workers and community leaders cheered his pronouncement that it would be controlled by the United States. Nippon has sought to acquire U.S. Steel for more than a year, and it is widely believed to be the only company with the will and resources to upgrade local steel facilities.
The rally Friday, which Trump also promised a week ago, was to celebrate the deal — and to celebrate Trump for having blessed it, despite opposing it throughout last year's presidential campaign. An adoring crowd cheered as 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rocky Bleier presented Trump with a Steelers jersey numbered 47. That's the number of Trump's presidential term and also that of defensive great Mel Blount — a suitable number for "a Hall of Fame President," as Bleier put it.
In his roughly hour-long speech, however, Trump spoke only glancingly of the deal between the steel giants. He acknowledged he'd been a hard sell on the deal initially.
Nippon "kept asking me and I kept rejecting them — no way, no way," he said. "[But] every time they came in, the deal kept getting better and better for the workers. They're putting up billions of dollars, and you're going to have control, you're going to maintain control."
Trump said very little that was new about the deal or its terms in his remarks Friday evening. He reiterated earlier pledges by Nippon to invest $2.2 billion in upgrading the steelmaking facilities at U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works, and to offer a $5,000 bonus to workers once the deal was completed.
He also noted the company's pledge to keep its U.S. headquarters in Pittsburgh, and to establish a research facility in concert with Carnegie Mellon University. And he repeated Nippon's pledge that much of that investment would be made in the next 14 months.
"You're going to be very busy watching trucks go back and forth, loaded up with cash or its equivalent," he said.
While he said that the "most important" part of the deal was that the company would be "controlled by the USA," he offered no new details about how that would happen — a question that has loomed large for industry observers.
No timetable on tariffs
About the only new policy he rolled out — a doubling of tariffs on steel to 50 percent that would have a major impact on the global industry and domestic companies that use imported steel — was mentioned breezily well into his speech. He offered no timetable for that increase.
Trump said the move would "even further secure the steel industry in the United States," he said. "No one is going to get around that."
The current tariff is 25 percent, which Trump said might be inadequate, but he also credited it for saving the industry outright.
"You wouldn't have this plant right now ... You wouldn't have any steel mills, I don't think a steel mill in the country, if we didn't do the tariffs," he said.
But he spoke at almost equal length about the political ambitions of U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser of Luzerne County, who is said to be pondering a run for Pennsylvania governor in 2026.
"If you run, you'll have my support totally, and you'll win," Trump said.
He spent more time discussing the "big beautiful bill" that Republicans are seeking to pass in Washington, discussing at length its tax cuts and expressing mystification at why Democrats would not support such a measure. (Democrats are concerned the bill would require massive cuts in Medicaid and would balloon deficits.)
Prior to Trump's appearance, top executives from U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel stood together at the podium and hailed his work to bring together the "partnership" between their companies — also without disclosing any of its details.
"We wouldn't be standing here today if not for him," U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt told the crowd. He praised Trump for acting" "decisively, strategically, boldly," saying the president "made sure this partnership protected what matters: American jobs, American steel, and American strength."
"Because of him, we're in a position to invest billions ... right here at home," Burritt said.
Added Nippon vice chair Takahiro Mori: "I'm proud to be here. ... For many years we have had deep respect for U.S. Steel and the role it has played in building America. We know it has the best steelworkers in the industry. [This partnership] will be a game-changer for the next generation of steel-making.
Mori, too, thanked Trump for bringing the partnership to fruition, saying, "You are saving American steel. And now we will start to make the massive investment that will transform U.S. Steel on the world stage. You have placed your trust in us, and we will work hard in the years ahead to keep earning that trust."
Unanswered questions
Neither Trump nor anyone else, however, has said much in the past week about how that deal would work. U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania has said the U.S. government would be given leverage over key business decisions. But it remains unclear which decisions those would be. Some conservatives have expressed caution about the plan, and the United Steelworkers union, which opposes the deal, says it's unclear what Trump's announcement has changed.
The event Friday took place in a warehouse at the Irvin Plant, part of the company's three-facility Mon Valley Works. Steel coils, ready for shipping, were arranged for display behind the crowd. An overhead crane and a U.S. flag hung suspended from the roof behind the area where Trump spoke.
When Trump announced the event last Friday, he billed it not as a speech but as "a BIG rally." And though it was organized as an official White House event, it did have the feeling of one of his campaign gatherings.
U.S. Steel used social media to invite members of the public to attend the event, and many of those who weren't wearing orange U.S. Steel jackets arrived decked out in MAGA hats and other Trump regalia. Many held pre-printed signs reading, "Thank You President Trump" and "Make U.S. Steel Great Again."
Outside the plant, Trump's appearance was awaited with no small amount of uncertainty. Since Trump announced the "planned partnership" last week, business media and others have questioned how much leverage Trump would demand and how Nippon would react to a deal whose terms seemed to limit the control over the company it hoped to buy. The United Steelworkers also expressed doubt about the transaction.
"At this time we cannot say whether the 'planned partnership described in Friday's message ... or news reports since then represents any meaning change from the merger proposed in 2023," the union said in an open letter to its members.
That deal, it said, would involve U.S. Steel becoming "a wholly owned subsidiary" of the larger firm.
Among other things, the union said, it was unclear how much of Nippon's $14 billion investment in operations would go toward union facilities: U.S. Steel owns non-union plants in Arkansas, where much of its recent growth has been concentrated.
Instead, it mostly fell to Trump's allies, including McCormick, to sketch the outlines of the deal, though such descriptions also left questions unanswered.
In an interview earlier this week on CNBC, McCormick said that as part of the transaction, the U.S. government would be assured of having a "golden share" that would give the United States a measure of leverage over the new company. Such arrangements are more common in Europe and in China, whose government has used them to exert control over the technology sector. It was not clear from McCormick's remarks what kind of operational oversight the United States would have.
Protecting steelmaking
Meuser, whose Congressional District contains several counties in northeastern and central Pennsylvania, assured Fox News viewers earlier this week that Trump "will have veto power ... over the board members and have oversight of the company's overall operation." But under questioning by Laura Ingraham, he said that the deal "is still being structured [and] needs to be highly satisfactory."
"It's still being structured?" Ingraham asked with surprise. She noted that U.S. Steel's website said the company was being "acquired" by Nippon. "Are you saying that they're not being acquired by Nippon?"
"I'm saying it's strictly an investment," Meuser said. "It will be American-run. The White House has investigative and oversight authority. And that is the deal that we have."
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro did not attend the gathering Friday at the Irvin plant, although he has been optimistic about the deal.
"Friday night for me is reserved for our Sabbath dinner with our family," Shapiro told reporters when asked whether he would be in attendance. "So I will be with them, but I'll be celebrating this and looking forward to getting this deal done, and knowing that we all worked together on this to make it happen and protect steelmaking here in Pennsylvania."
Other state and local political figures did attend, however, including Meuser and U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of Butler. Echoing Trump, the two members of Congress and a handful of local workers and union representatives all described the relationship between U.S. Steel and Nippon as a "partnership" — leaving unclear the exact relationship between the two companies.
Kelly promised that Trump would be bringing "the best message you could receive this week," and said the outcome reflected a return to American strength.
"I tell people all the time that the culture I grew up in is gone," said Kelly. "But you know what? On November the fifth, the old culture came back. We understand what it takes to win. We understand that we cannot lose any more ground to anybody, anywhere, anything."
Added Meuser: "We thank the man of steel — President Donald J. Trump — for bringing us together. President Trump — his business acumen, his patriotic mind ... sees that U.S. Steel is great for Pittsburgh, [and] great for thousands of men and women."
During the event, several dozen anti-Trump protesters staged a counter-rally in Pittsburgh, where they carried signs and sang union songs in the rain at the busy intersection of Fifth and Shady avenues near Mellon Park.
Organized by Pittsburgh Women for Democracy and other small local activist groups, the event was intended to provide an alternative to the Trump event and show support for steelworkers, organizers said. Protesters mostly voiced an anti-Trump message, but several of them also said they wanted to support unions in general.
Shadyside resident Andrea Fox, who is involved with Pittsburgh Women for Democracy, said the event was "kind of spontaneously planned" to deflect attention from Trump and the West Mifflin event. She said her focus is on improving democracy and ensuring things such as health care and child care are available.
"I'm currently about to become a grandparent," she said. " ... Those are the things that are important to me, [as] is really making the country better instead of worse."
Julia Maruca of 90.5 WESA contributed to this report.
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