President did not give details on partnership, impact on Gary
President Donald Trump on Friday announced a partnership between U.S. Steel and Japanese steelmaker Nippon that he says will keep the headquarters in Pittsburgh and add billions of dollars to the U.S. economy.
“From Pennsylvania to Arkansas, and from Minnesota to Indiana, AMERICAN MADE is BACK,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. Trump’s announcement did not include details regarding specifics of the partnership.
The deal, which Trump said will create 70,000 jobs and inject $14 billion into the U.S. economy over the next 14 months, carries particular weight for Gary.
Nippon, based in Japan, announced in 2023 that it was acquiring U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion. However, then-President Joe Biden blocked the deal earlier this year, citing national security concerns.
Nippon Steel previously had pledged to preserve jobs at the Gary Works plant and maintain its production capacity here for at least a decade, assurances local leaders say are vital for the city’s steelworkers and the regional tax base.
Though initially caught off guard by Nippon’s attempted acquisition of U.S. Steel, Mayor Eddie Melton had been a supporter of the deal, based on the Japanese company’s proposal to invest $300 million into Gary’s blast furnace and also out of fear of potential plant closures, which U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt promised would occur if the acquisition failed.
“When the current CEO said in The Wall Street Journal that, if the deal does not happen, that there would be plant closures, as mayor, I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines and watch it play out,” Melton said last month at his State of the City address.
The agreement announced by Trump ensures the continuation of Gary’s relationship with the company that founded the city in 1906, naming it after its founder, Elbert H. Gary. The steel plant continues to be one of the Region’s largest employers, with roughly 4,300 workers. The city’s identity remains inseparable from the sprawling Gary Works plant, which still looms over its skyline.
In a statement released Thursday, United Steelworkers International President David McCall called a potential deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel “a disaster for American steelworkers” and urged the administration to block what he called a “corporate sellout.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, vice chairman of the Congressional Steel Caucus, said bipartisan pressure secured new safeguards but vowed that “this is not the end of our oversight,” warning that Nippon must be held to every promise made to Northwest Indiana.
“Nippon Steel must be held to every promise made – from promises to the hardworking steelworkers of Northwest Indiana and the city of Gary, to the economic and strategic interests of the United States,” Mrvan said in a statement Friday afternoon. “We will not hesitate to act if those commitments are broken.”
This story originally was published by Capital B, which is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to delivering Black-focused, independent, fact-based journalism that informs, inspires and empowers the Gary community.
