US Steel to keep Illinois plant running

A decision to wind down steel rolling activity at the Nippon Steel/United States Steel site in Granite City, Illinois, may have been reversed after intervention by the Donald J. Trump administration.

A report posted early this week to the AP News website indicates the U.S. Department of Commerce has used the federal government’s “golden share” in Nippon Steel’s U.S. operations to disapprove of the Japan-based steelmaker’s earlier decision to reduce its footprint in Granite City.

Although the mill in Granite City has not produced any hot steel since 2023, the facility has continued to roll and shape inbound slabs.

The report by Marc Levy of AP News says the White House has taken credit for intervening in the decision “under the terms of a three-month-old national security agreement with Japan-based Nippon Steel.”

In a statement seen by Levy, the reporter says the White House said U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick opted to exercise the federal government’s “golden share” in the matter.

The intervention reverses a previous course set by U.S. Steel indicating it intended to stop processing slabs at the complex in southern Illinois, which would have resulted in laying off several hundred employees.