HARRISBURG, Pa. — Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel said Wednesday they have finalized their ''historic partnership,'' a deal that gives the U.S. government a say in some matters and comes a year-and-a-half after the Japanese company first proposed its nearly $15 billion buyout of the iconic American steelmaker.
The pursuit by Nippon Steel for the Pittsburgh-based company was buffeted by national security concerns and presidential politics in a premier battleground state, dragging out the transaction for more than a year after U.S. Steel shareholders approved it.
It also forced Nippon Steel to expand the deal, including adding a so-called ''golden share'' provision that gives the federal government the power to appoint a board member and a say in company decisions that affect domestic steel production and competition with overseas producers.
''Together, Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel will be a world-leading steelmaker, with best-in-class technologies and manufacturing capabilities,'' the companies said.
The combined company will become the world's fourth-largest steelmaker in an industry dominated by the Chinese, and bring what analysts say is Nippon Steel's top-notch technology to U.S. Steel's antiquated steelmaking processes, plus a commitment to invest $11 billion to upgrade U.S. Steel facilities.
In exchange, Nippon Steel gets access to a robust U.S. steel market, strengthened in recent years by tariffs under President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden, analysts say.
Anthony Rapa, a Blank Rome lawyer in Washington who advises firms on trade, operations and investments, said the government's intervention in the Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal is another sign of a trend that the U.S. is increasingly equating economic security with national security.
He doesn't see the government's intervention as chilling foreign investment and said a ''golden share'' mechanism — to the extent it's used again by the U.S. to ease national security concerns — is likely to emerge only in sensitive and complex cases.