By Shunsuke Tanaka and Tomoko Numajiri / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

The management team for Nippon Steel Corp., including Chairman and CEO Eiji Hashimoto, reported the company's acquisition of United States Steel Corp. to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.

Hashimoto spoke to reporters after the meeting. His remarks follow.

Question: What was the purpose of the meeting?

Eiji Hashimoto: Negotiations (on the acquisition) had, at one point, reached a stalemate. However, in February Prime Minister (Ishiba) had direct talks with (U.S.) President (Donald) Trump, which helped achieve a breakthrough in the talks. I came here to express my gratitude.

Question: What did you discuss with the prime minister?

Hashimoto: Given my position, I'd prefer not to talk about that.

Question: Trump has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the tariff talks between Japan and the United States. Was this topic discussed?

Hashimoto: The two sides are actively engaged in negotiations now. I'm not in a position to comment on them.

Question: Are there any areas where Nippon Steel can contribute to Japan-U.S. cooperation going forward?

Hashimoto: Since the World Trade Organization was established in 1995, the United States has been a driving force in expanding free trade, in other words neoliberalism. However, it was not necessarily good for the country. (The United States) is now making a drastic shift away from the free trade system, and I believe that the trend toward the government intervening more in the economy and business is unlikely to change.

Since we have completed our acquisition of U.S. Steel, what Nippon Steel can do is show that cooperation between the manufacturing sectors of Japan and the United States can be effective in achieving the Trump administration's goal of reviving the nation's manufacturing industry.

With the large-scale investments, it will take several years to finish building the facilities. This does not mean that there will be no effects from the acquisition until then. We will provide technologies for operations and equipment management to U.S. Steel to achieve tangible results such as stable production and consistent daily output, and gain recognition from the U.S. market. This will also help us recover the massive costs of the acquisition and investment.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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July 03, 2025 00:25 ET (04:25 GMT)

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