U.S. President Donald Trump said he wouldn't mind if Japan's Nippon Steel took a minority stake in U.S. Steel, days after he announced Nippon's bid for the struggling U.S. steelmaker would take the form of an investment instead of a purchase.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said Nippon is now considering an investment, including debt, in U.S. Steel.
"Minority stake I wouldn't mind greatly," Trump said in response to a question on whether he'd support a minority stake by Nippon in the U.S. company.
"What they're doing right now is they're going to be investors, and they're going to be investing in, I think, debt and various other things," he added.
Nippon's $14.9 billion pursuit of U.S. Steel has stretched on for more than a year. The proposal became highly politicized ahead of November's U.S. presidential election, with both former President Joe Biden and Trump pledging to kill it.
Last week, Trump said he would be involved in a deal "to mediate and arbitrate."
Earlier this week, a Japanese government spokesperson said Nippon is considering proposing a bold change in its plan from its previous approach of seeking to buy U.S. Steel.
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