Trump approves US Steel-Nippon partnership
NEW YORK: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday approving a partnership between US Steel and Nippon Steel after the companies reached agreement on US national security guarantees.
The deal brings an end to the long-running saga over foreign ownership of a key national asset which began in December 2023, when US Steel and Nippon Steel announced plans for a US$14.9 billion merger.
Nippon's acquisition of US Steel was held up by former president Joe Biden, who blocked it in his last weeks in the White House on national security grounds.
Trump initially opposed Nippon Steel's takeover plan, calling for US Steel to remain domestically owned, but he threw his support behind a "partnership" in May.
"US Steel will REMAIN in America, and keep its Headquarters in the Great City of Pittsburgh," the US president said in a Truth Social post.
In a joint statement, US Steel and Nippon Steel said Trump "has approved the Companies' historic partnership that will unleash unprecedented investments in steelmaking in the United States, protecting and creating more than 100,000 jobs."
"In addition to President Trump's Executive Order approving the partnership, the Companies have entered into a National Security Agreement (NSA) with the US Government," they said, which calls for approximately US$11 billion in new investments to be made by 2028.
Trump's executive order did not provide details about the NSA but he reserved the authority to issue further orders "as shall in my judgment be necessary to protect the national security of the United States."
Friday's announcement follows a review of the deal by the government's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which is tasked with analysing the national security implications of foreign takeovers of US companies. - AFP
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New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Trump showcases US military might as protesters decry 'dictator' moves
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump hosted the largest US military parade in decades on his 79th birthday as protesters rallied across the country to accuse him of acting like a dictator. Trump hailed the United States as the "hottest country in the world" after watching tanks, aircraft and troops file past him in Washington on Saturday to honour the 250th anniversary of the US army. It formed a stark split screen with turmoil at home and abroad, as police used teargas to disperse protesters in Los Angeles and US ally Israel traded missile fire with Iran in a rapidly escalating conflict in the Middle East. Trump's parade on an overcast night in Washington came after hundreds of thousands of "No Kings" demonstrators thronged the streets in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Houston and Atlanta. The Republican largely avoided his usual domestic political diatribes in an unusually brief speech and instead focused on praising the US army, saying that they "fight, fight, fight, and they win, win, win." The display of military might comes as Trump asserts his power domestically and on the international stage. Trump used his parade address to send a warning to Washington's adversaries of "total and complete" defeat, with the United States increasingly at risk of entanglement in Israel's conflict with Iran. "Time and again, America's enemies have learned that if you threaten the American people, our soldiers are coming for you," Trump said. Trump had openly dreamed since his first term as president of having a grand military parade of the type more often seen in Moscow or Pyongyang. The last such parade in the United States was at the end of the Gulf War in 1991. Trump stood and saluted on a stage outside the White House as tanks rumbled past, aircraft roared overhead and nearly 7,000 troops marched by. Troops and military hardware from different eras passed by, with an announcer reeling off US victories in battles with Japanese, German, Chinese and Vietnamese forces in past wars. The army said the parade cost up to US$45 million. The crowd sang "Happy Birthday" and there were occasional chants of "USA! USA!" but the atmosphere was less intense than one of the barnstorming rallies that swept Trump to power. The White House said that "over 250,000 patriots showed up" for the event, without providing evidence. Communications Director Steven Cheung described the "No Kings" protests as a "complete and utter failure." "No Kings" organisers said protesters gathered in hundreds of places, with AFP journalists seeing large crowds in several cities. Organisers said they were protesting against Trump's dictatorial overreach, particularly what they described as the strongman symbolism of the parade. "I think people are mad as hell," Lindsay Ross, a 28-year-old musician, told AFP in New York, where tens of thousands of people rallied. Some protesters targeted Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, while a small group even gathered in Paris. "I think it's disgusting," protester Sarah Hargrave, 42, said in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, describing Trump's parade as a "display of authoritarianism." Thousands turned out in Los Angeles to protest against Trump's deployment of troops in the country's second-largest city following clashes sparked by immigration raids. "He's trying to bully Los Angeles into complying with everything that he's trying to do, and we're not going to do that. We're a city of immigrants," a protester who gave his name as Armando told AFP. After a day of largely peaceful protests, police unexpectedly began moving people away from the LA protest area, igniting confusion and anger among demonstrators caught off guard and unsure of where to go. Police on horseback pushed crowds back as law enforcement fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades hours ahead of an 8pm (0300 GMT) curfew. Police officials said a "small group of agitators" had begun throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks at officers, prompting the decision to deploy tear gas and order the crowd to disperse. Violence shattered the calm elsewhere, with a shooting at a "No Kings" demonstration in the western US city of Salt Lake City. At least one person was critically injured and three people were taken into custody, police said. The killing of a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in the northern state of Minnesota on Saturday, in what the governor called a targeted attack, also cast a pall over the parade. Trump was quick to condemn the attacks outside Minneapolis in which former state speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed, while another state lawmaker and his wife were hospitalised with gunshot wounds.--AFP
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Let the new Syria emerge from the ashes
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Washington's asks boil down to three items: combating the Islamic State group, consolidating its authority to prevent chaos, and respecting the rights of ethnic and sectarian minorities in the country, some of whom, like the Kurds in Eastern Syria, have been long-standing US partners. The Trump administration also expects al-Sharaa to clamp down on Palestinian militant groups that have traditionally used Syrian soil as a base of operations, and Trump eventually wants Damascus to join the Abraham Accords, which would normalise relations between Israel and Syria. The results thus far have been mixed, depending on the issue. But in the Middle East, a mixed verdict is often the best that one can hope for. On combating Islamic State, the new Syrian government has met expectations so far. This wasn't inevitable when al-Sharaa ascended to power in December. His history sowed doubt among many US national security officials about what could be accomplished on the counterterrorism front. Twenty years ago, al-Sharaa was fighting with al-Qaida in Iraq and spent time as a prisoner under US military custody. When Syria erupted into civil war in 2011, he travelled to the country and established an al-Qaida affiliate there, leading Washington to place a big bounty on his head. Yet al-Sharaa eventually struck out on his own. He distanced his group from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State's first so-called emir, ditched the al-Qaida name and turned his organisation Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, into one seeking to liberate Syria, not conduct global jihad. While HTS was still an extremely conservative outfit, al-Sharaa sought to transform it into a de facto government-in-waiting, and for the most part, it worked – HTS ruled over most of Idlib province in northwestern Syria for the duration of Syria's civil war. Ever since he routed Assad's forces, al-Sharaa has sought to moderate himself further. The former al-Qaida prisoner has spent the last six months ditching his fatigues for Western-style suits and ingratiating himself with the likes of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, deep-pocketed countries that could prove extremely useful for the new but cash-strapped Syrian government. Al-Sharaa also has made it a point to burnish his credentials in the West, betting that promises to protect Syria's diverse communities, institute a market economy and unite the nation after nearly 14 years of war would convince Washington, Paris and London to explore a new relationship. The US and many of its allies in Europe have taken al-Sharaa up on the offer. US officials view the new Syrian administration as an opportunity to not only wipe the slate clean on decades of adversarial ties with Damascus but to also dilute the influence of Iran and Russia, its historic backers. Syria under Assad used to be one of Tehran's most important pieces on the Middle East chessboard, a country that provided Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with a way station to send weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. With Assad out and al-Sharaa in, Syria is no longer an Iranian proxy. The further the new Syrian authorities ostracise Iran, the more support it will likely receive from the Americans. Of course, it's not all sunshine and roses for Syria. While Washington is guardedly optimistic about the HTS-led administration's commitment to keeping a boot on Islamic State's neck – if only because it's in al-Sharaa's own interest to do so – it remains unclear whether the country's multiple ethnic and sectarian communities can be reconciled. The long civil war produced an overwhelming sense of mistrust, fear and animosity between Sunnis and Alawites, who compose approximately 10% of Syria's population but held many of the senior military, political and intelligence posts under the former regime. In one especially brutal atrocity last March, hardliners supposedly outside the Syrian government's control rampaged through Alawite villages along Syria's Mediterranean coast, killing hundreds of civilians, in retaliation for Assad loyalists attacking Syrian army positions. The attack lasted for days and put a bright spotlight on al-Sharaa and his ability to actually implement the promises of peace and inclusion he has made since stepping into the presidential palace. Can Syria emerge from the ashes? It's a loaded question with no definitive answer at this point in time. The US, though, needs to restrain itself from the urge of becoming too overinvolved in the country's political development. Time and again, Washington has allowed hubris to guide its actions, lecturing others about how to structure their politics and pretending it has all the answers. Most of the time, our ambitions outweigh our capacity to fulfill them. At worst, we create new problems and burdens on the states we purportedly wish to help. So as the Trump administration continues to monitor Syria's evolution, it must take care to distinguish the necessary from the ideal. A democratic utopia in the heart of the Middle East is the ideal; a government willing and able to keep Islamic State in check is the prize. — Chicago Tribune/TNS Daniel DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities and a foreign affairs columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Marching orders: From Gaza to Tehran and LA
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