Nippon Steel Paid $14 Billion for U.S. Steel Only For Trump to Pull The Ultimate Uno Reverse Card…

"Congratulations, you played yourself." - Nippon Steel to Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel is big mad right now. Why? Oh, for no reason other than the fact they backed up the brinks truck worth  $14.1B to buy U.S. Steel and just found out they don’t actually own it. Case in point: Trump’s “golden share”... baked into the acquisition this summer… gives the White House veto power over closures, layoffs, capital cuts, even what the company calls itself. Nippon thought they were buying an American icon. Instead, what they really bought was a tenant lease where the landlord is the U.S. government and rent is paid in political obedience.

(Source: Giphy) 

In short, Granite City, Illinois was the first test. U.S. Steel planned to shutter the plant in November. Eight hundred jobs got the guillotine. Workers were even told they’d keep collecting paychecks during the idling… However, within days, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told U.S. Steel’s CEO that Trump would use the golden share to kill the closure. Reversal complete. The plant stays open and eight hundred people keep clocking in. Translation: Trump is officially G.O.A.T.’d. 

(Source: Reuters) 

But, but, but… for Nippon, this is less of a symbolic clause, and more of the world’s largest c*ckblock, presumably because the golden share means Trump can quite literally block a laundry list of items. Things like: 

• Plant closures and job transfers overseas
• Capital cuts or investment rollbacks
• Name changes or moving HQ out of Pittsburgh
• Acquisitions of U.S. competitors
• Production capacity changes or material sourcing
• Even decisions about employee pay

(Source: Giphy) 

Translation: Screw shareholder agreement. This is federal handcuffs. Nippon now runs the company, but Trump keeps the keys. Which is why for Donnie Politics, this isn’t about Granite City at all. It’s about rewriting the rules of ownership. For example, he’s already forced Intel to hand Washington equity, leaned on Nvidia and AMD to accept “voluntary” deals, and now strapped a leash around steel. Meaning, if you’re in a strategic sector (think: semis, defense, steel, energy) you’re no longer private. You’re a state asset in all but name.

As for investors, this is the new reality. A buyout or merger used to be a math problem that include bean counting w*t dreams like debt and EBITDA. But not you’ve got to price in political vetoes. Does your new CEO answer to shareholders or the Oval Office? Because one phone call just nuked U.S. Steel’s cost-cutting plan.

(Source: Giphy)

So yeah, in the end, U.S. Steel isn’t a Japanese subsidiary, it's a nationalized weapon with the Commander and Chief being its legit Commander and Chief. Nippon paid $14.1B for the privilege of finding out they’re junior partners in a business where Trump decides which furnaces stay lit. Some call it an investors nightmare… I call it: The Art of the Deal, baby. Until next time, friends… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in Intel as mentioned in the article.