CEO David Burritt says U.S. Steel "absolutely" still an American company after Nippon Steel acquisition

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

January 19, 2026 / 7:38 PM EST


U.S. Steel's acquisition last year by Japan's Nippon Steel came with a notable condition to win approval from the Trump administration: a so-called "golden share" that gives President Trump the power to approve certain major corporate decisions, including closing plants or changing locations. But CEO David Burritt tells CBS News, "There's nothing in this golden share that prevents us from doing what we want to do."

"We're aligned with what the president wants us to do. In fact, we wouldn't agree to this thing if we weren't sure it was going to be great for our workers and great for our company," Burritt told "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil at one of the company's plants in Pittsburgh.

Burritt downplayed some of the provisions in the deal, saying there were certain aspects that would need approval, such as changing the company's name or being forced to follow existing trade laws, that don't have any impact on what U.S. Steel's plans were to begin with. But asked if the company would require Mr. Trump's approval for business decisions down the line, such as closing a plant, Burritt insisted, "We don't see us closing the plant. In fact, we just did have an opening here because of demand increasing at Granite City [Illinois]."

Burritt said, despite Mr. Trump's own claims last year, that the president did not veto the company's decision to close down the Granite City operation, which had been dormant since 2023. He said the company recently restarted a blast furnace at the location due to increased customer demand.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-steel-ceo-david-burritt-interview-golden-share-trump-american-company/

[Irish_Dem]

1. This guy is lying.

[Deminpenn]

2. Post-Gazette had a feature story in Sunday's paper

about how Nippon Steel's Japanese executives are adjusting to life in Allegheny county/Pittsburgh. Nippon has teamed its managers with current USS employees. So far, so good. Nippon will update and modernize the USS steel-making and coke-making operations, This is a godsend to beat down towns like Clairton and its neighbors, to the region's air quality, too. And, even better, USS is hiring.

I understand Biden wanting to be "union supportive" when he blocked the deal, but that was a big mistake. The union opposition to the sale to Nippon was all ginned up by Cleveland Cliffs who were spurned in their attempt to buy USS. Had he approved the deal, he'd have gotten a lot more votes in the Mon Valley than he did, maybe enough to win the state.

[Skittles]

3. sure, bro

[chelsea0011]

4. And Toyota is an American company

because they make many of them here.

[lonely bird]

5. These are transnational companies

That being said, the boards and senior management base their actions on a wide variety of psychological inputs. Nation of origin, profit, personal belief structures, political economic climate of diverse locations etc all play a roll in assessing actions, implementing them and controlling/spinning media in response.

The CEO of USS says what he says because he may believe it and because he may also believe he must walk a line. His words are unsurprising. Whether they are truly accurate long term is something else.

[JT45242]

6. They will just budget a bribe to mango Mussolini for every decision

Won't be a problem.

They probably already negotiated an ala carte menu

Plant closing =5million
Plant update=1 million

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera as the play would say