Al Root

President Calvin Coolidge once said, "The chief business of the American people is business." Now, it seems the chief business of the American government is business.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that President Donald Trump invoked his so-called golden share to keep U.S. Steel's Granite City steel mill in Illinois running. U.S. Steel planned to halt operations in November while continuing to pay workers.

U.S. Steel and the White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Barron's.

Golden share authority, essentially the final say on operational changes at U.S. Steel properties, was granted to the government after allowing the merger of Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel in June.

That deal, which took almost two years to finalize, was politically fraught, with politicians from both sides of the aisle claiming foreign ownership of domestic steel assets was bad for the country. Trump eventually let the deal through after winning veto power -- apparently just exercised -- along with additional investments in America by Nippon.

The action doesn't have implications for U.S. Steel shareholders. Nippon owns the company now. For steel makers, it keeps more U.S. capacity online, which could send steel prices lower.

Benchmark steel prices are currently about $800 per ton, up roughly $100 year over year, helped by the president's 50% import tariffs on foreign steel. Still, prices are well below a recent 2021 peak of more than $1,800 per ton.

So far, higher prices have helped steel stocks in 2025. Through Friday, shares of Nucor, Steel Dynamics, and Cleveland-Cliffs have risen an average of about 20% this year, better than the 13% increase for the S&P 500. Nippon Steel stock has risen only 1% in overseas trading in 2025.

Beyond steel, investors should pay attention to the administration's stance toward business. It wants to be involved. Along with influencing U.S. Steel, the federal government now has a stake in Intel, receives royalties from Nvidia chip sales in China, and is effectively the largest shareholder of rare earth miner MP Materials. What's more, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently suggested the government should get some benefit from being the largest customer of major defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin.

These days, federal government activity and ownership are factors for investors to consider when evaluating stocks in any sector.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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September 20, 2025 11:12 ET (15:12 GMT)

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