Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday he is hopeful of a deal that would keep U.S. Steel as “an American company,” given President Donald Trump’s intervention over Nippon Steel’s ambition to acquire the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker.
The issue came up in a summit between Ishiba and Trump in Washington on Friday. Trump reiterated his opposition to Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel, saying in a joint news conference with Ishiba that “the concept, psychologically, was not good.”