Nippon Steel, U.S. Seek 8-Day Pause In Litigation To Resolve Deal Issues

Nippon Steel and the Trump administration have asked a US appeals court to extend a pause in their litigation for eight days to allow more time to reach a deal enabling the Japanese firm to buy US Steel for $14.9 billion, Mike Scarcella and Alexandra Alper reported for Reuters .

The companies and the government believe they are close to finalizing a deal. I Photo: Kyodo News

The court is likely to approve the extension of the pause, which was first granted on April 7, when US President Donald Trump ordered a second national security review of the tie-up.

That pause was set to expire on June 5. “A continued abeyance is warranted given ... the ongoing efforts to reach a resolution that would fully resolve petitioners’ claims,” the companies and the government said in their filing.

The request for a short pause signals that the companies and the government believe they are close to finalizing a deal — welcome news for investors who have anxiously followed the deal’s bumpy path since it was announced in December 2023.

Both former President Joe Biden and Trump asserted last year that US Steel should remain US-owned, as they sought to woo voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Pennsylvania, where the company is headquartered.