The American steel giant U.S. Steel will finally merge with its Japanese competitor Nippon Steel. This was announced by US President Donald Trump. The billion-dollar transaction was blocked by Joe Biden at the beginning of the year. The change will also affect the factory in Košice.
In December 2023, the Japanese giant announced that it would buy the U.S. Steel steelworks for almost $15 billion. The acquisition, among other things, ran into the American presidential election. Both candidates, including incumbent President Joe Biden, were against the deal. In January, he blocked the sale.
On Friday, current President Donald Trump announced on social media that he had approved the takeover of the company.
U.S. Steel also owns a plant in Košice. The factory did not want to comment on the news. According to steel market trader Peter Kamarás, the Japanese could bring cutting-edge technology and know-how. On the other hand, they would need to put billions of dollars in Eastern Slovakia in the form of decarbonization of the plant.
Nippon has committed to the American president to huge investments in the USA, but has not committed to the Slovak government or the EU.
"We will monitor very carefully what will happen to this factory, we do not have exact information yet," said Labour Minister Erik Tomáš (Hlas-SD). Trade unionists see an opportunity in the Japanese investors to modernize the steelworks.
Source: STVR
