HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The White House said Monday that it intervened under the terms of a three-month-old national security agreement with Japan-based Nippon Steel to block a decision to stop processing raw steel at U.S. Steel\u2019s Granite City Works plant in Illinois.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the White House said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick delivered the message that President Donald Trump would exercise his so-called \u201cgolden share\u201d power<\/a> that was a key element in the Trump administration\u2019s decision to allow Nippon Steel to buy out U.S. Steel<\/a>.<\/p>\n That provision helped resolve the Trump administration\u2019s national security concerns in Nippon Steel\u2019s proposed buyout of the iconic American steelmaker and gives the federal government a say in certain company decisions involving domestic steel production, including over closing or idling U.S. Steel\u2019s plants.<\/p>\n \u201cThe administration did intervene to block U.S. Steel\u2019s decision to idle the Granite City Works plant, with the threat of the president invoking his golden share authority,\u201d the White House said.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said it would stop processing steel slabs<\/a> at its Granite City Works plant in southern Illinois, just outside St. Louis, and \u201coptimize\u201d its operations by focusing on processing at its Mon Valley Works in Pennsylvania and Gary Works in Indiana.<\/p>\n That decision was viewed as just a matter of time after U.S. Steel stopped producing steel at Granite City Works in 2023 when it idled the last operating blast furnace there. It had idled the other blast furnace there in 2019. It did say that it wouldn\u2019t lay off any of the roughly 800 workers there or reduce their pay.<\/p>\n