Photo/Illutration The Nippon Steel Corp. logo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would not mind if Nippon Steel took a minority stake in U.S. Steel, but noted the Japanese company was considering purchases of U.S. Steel's debt.

Trump's remarks were made to reporters at the White House days after the Republican president ruled out a purchase of the struggling American steelmaker by the Japanese giant.

"Minority stake I wouldn't mind greatly," Trump said in response to a question on whether he would support such a move by Nippon Steel.

"What they're doing right now is they're going to be investors, and they're going to be investing in, I think, debt and various other things," Trump added.

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Nippon Steel made a $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel in December 2023, ultimately promising billions of dollars in investment to revamp its aging infrastructure and pledging to keep its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The deal faced political headwinds from the get-go, with both Trump and his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden vowing to kill the transaction in a bid to appeal to voters in the election swing state of Pennsylvania, after the union representing U.S. Steel's employees, United Steelworkers, expressed opposition to the merger.

The proposed tie-up was blocked by the Biden administration over national security concerns. But the parties have asked the courts to toss out the block, saying Biden unfairly intervened in a national security review to benefit himself politically, poisoning the process.

The White House during the Biden administration defended the review. A Japanese government spokesperson said this week that Nippon Steel is considering proposing a bold change in plan from its previous approach of seeking to buy U.S. Steel.

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