[Global Times reporter Chen Zishuai Global Times special correspondent Sun Mo] According to the Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration used the power of "golden shares" for the first time to prevent the plant of American Steel Company ("American Steel") in Illinois from shutting down this fall. In June this year, Nippon Steel Corporation (referred to as "Nippon Steel") officially acquired U.S. Steel Company, and one of the prices was to give the U.S. government "gold shares". Having "gold shares" means that the U.S. government can intervene and veto specific matters such as personnel appointment and production of U.S. Steel, thus affecting the operation of Nippon Railway. The Nikkei Asian Review said on the 21st that this move implies that the US government may increase its intervention in the future, and also highlights the potential "trap" faced by Nippon Railway in managing this American company.

The Wall Street Journal on 19 November that two weeks ago, US Steel notified workers in Granite, Illinois that the factory would be shut down in November. The company said it would continue to pay salaries to about 800 employees of the factory, even if they were not engaged in regular production work. One person informed that U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnik, after hearing the news, called the US Steel CEO, saying that the government would not allow the factory to shut down and that the government would enable the power of ¡°Golden Shares.¡± The Japanese community said that if the US government¡¯s intervention was confirmed, it would be the first time, ¡°that means concerns about the obstruction of autonomous business has become a reality.¡±

According to the report, the suspension of the operation of the plant is one of the latest efforts made by the company to improve the productivity of US steel. According to the company, the two high furnaces of the plant have been out of place since 2023. while the company hopes to maximize overall output by combining resources and mobilizing people, thereby increasing the U.S. steel production capacity.

As part of the Trump administration¡¯s approval of the acquisition, Japanese economists wrote on the 22nd that as part of the agreement, Japanese steel companies pledged to make an additional $11 billion investment by 2028, including modernization of outdated US steel facilities. But if the plant shutdown plan is not approved, it could seriously hinder the company¡¯s restructuring business process. ¡°Trump promised in the campaign to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, but this intervention poured a bunch of cold water into Japanese steel¡¯s efforts to revive US steel.¡±

At the time of the acquisition in June this year, foreign media talked about the rare ¡°golden stock¡± model may affect the prospects of the company in the U.S. The Financial Times said that the White House¡¯s move to use ¡°golden stock¡± has raised concerns about multinationals, the latter believing that this has added new uncertainty to the already fragile trading environment.

The United States Steel Workers Federation has strong political influence across the United States, which means that even if the reforms proposed by enterprises aim to improve the overall performance of the group, once members of the trade union in a particular region feel that their interests are threatened, it could hinder the implementation of such initiatives through political pressure.

The report said that keeping good communication with the government and trade unions will still be a challenge.The extent to which Japan will promote the restructuring of U.S. steel in the future is difficult to predict, which highlights the possibility that it may be extremely difficult to reach mutual understanding with the U.S. government."

As part of tariff negotiations with the United States, the Japanese government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on U.S. Investment worth $55 billion. The Memorandum clearly states that investment projects will be ¡°selected by the President of the United States¡±, meaning that U.S. Japanese companies will always face the risk of being controlled by Trump¡¯s personal will.