President Donald Trump told U.S. steelworkers on Friday that he will double tariffs on steel imports to 50%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to bring it from 25% to 50%, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America,\u201d Trump said during remarks at U.S. Steel\u2019s Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump is visiting U.S. Steel after indicating last week that he will clear a controversial merger with Japan\u2019s Nippon. Investors and union members are listening for answers from the president on what shape the deal he announced between U.S. Steel and Nippon will take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump described the deal as a \u201cpartnership\u201d<\/a> in a May 23 post on his social media platform Truth Social. The president said U.S. Steel\u2019s headquarters would remain in Pittsburgh and Nippon would invest $14 billion over 14 months in the more than 120-year-old American industrial icon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump told reporters on Sunday that the deal is an \u201cinvestment, it\u2019s a partial ownership, but it will be controlled by the USA.\u201d But the White House and the companies have provided little detail to the public on how the deal is structured since Trump\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. Steel has described the deal as a \u201cmerger\u201d in which it will become a \u201cwholly owned subsidiary\u201d of Nippon Steel North America but continue to operate as separate company, according to an April 8 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources familiar with the matter told CNBC\u2019s David Faber that Nippon is expected to close its acquisition<\/a> of U.S. Steel at $55 per share, the original offer the Japanese steelmaker made before President Joe Biden rejected the deal in January. Biden blocked Nippon\u2019s proposed acquisition on national security grounds, arguing that it would jeopardize critical supply chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Trump ordered a new review<\/a> of the deal in April, softening his previous opposition to Nippon buying U.S. Steel. The president announced the \u201cpartnership\u201d one day after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) was supposed to conclude its review and make a recommendation on whether the companies had found ways to \u201cmitigate any national security risks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018National security agreement\u2019<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick told CNBC on Tuesday that the U.S. government will have a \u201cgolden share\u201d<\/a> that will allow it to decide on a number of board seats. U.S. Steel will have an American CEO and a majority of the board will come from the U.S. McCormick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a national security agreement that will be signed with the U.S. government,\u201d McCormick told CNBC\u2019s \u201cSquawk Box<\/a>.\u201d \u201cThere\u2019ll be a golden share that will essentially require U.S. government approval of a number of the board members and that will allow the United States to ensure production levels aren\u2019t cut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201cgolden share\u201d likely wouldn\u2019t take the form of an equity stake by the U.S. government, said James Brower, a partner at law firm Morrison Forrester\u2019s litigation department. The committee that reviewed the deal, CFIUS, does not negotiate equity interests, Brower said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would likely take the form of contractual right for the U.S. government to veto certain actions, said Brower, who has represented clients on issues related to CFIUS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nippon will \u201chave certainly members of the board and this will be part of their overall corporate structure,\u201d McCormick told CNBC. White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro told reporters Thursday that \u201cNippon Steel is going to have some involvement, but no control of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cU.S. Steel owns the company,\u201d Navarro said. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Friday that the details of the Nippon Steel deal \u201cremain confidential, relatively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe underlying principle is that the United States should have control over key critical sectors, whether it\u2019s basic manufacturing or high tech,\u201d Greer told \u201cSquawk Box.\u201d \u201cIn the event that foreign countries or foreign individuals or firms want to acquire these companies or have large investments, the U.S. has to maintain control of things that matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The United Steelworkers, which originally opposed the deal, has said the union \u201ccannot speculate about the impact\u201d of Trump\u2019s announcement \u201cwithout more information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur concern remains that Nippon, a foreign corporation with a long and proven track record of violating our trade laws, will further erode domestic steelmaking capacity and jeopardize thousands of good, union jobs,\u201d USW President David McCall said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n