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‘Golden Share’ in U.S. Steel Gives Trump Extraordinary Control

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Administration officials secured a deal that will give the president unusual influence over a private company, and could serve as a model for other deals.To save its takeover of U.S. Steel, Japan’s Nippon Steel agreed to an unusual arrangement, granting the White House a “golden share” that gives the government an extraordinary amount of influence over a U.S. company.New details of the agreement show that the structure would give President Trump and his successors a permanent stake in U.S. Steel, significant sway over its board and veto power over a wide array of company actions, an arrangement that could change the nature of foreign investment in the United States.The terms of the arrangement were hammered out in meetings that went late into the night on Wednesday and Thursday, according to two people familiar with the details.Representatives from Nippon Steel — which had been trying to acquire the struggling U.S. Steel since December 2023, but had been blocked by the Biden administration over national security concerns — came around to Mr. Trump’s desire to take a stake that would give the U.S. government significant control over the company’s actions.Nippon had argued that this influence should expire — perhaps after three or four years, the duration of the Trump administration. But in the meetings, which were held at the Commerce Department, Trump officials led by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick insisted that the golden share should last in perpetuity, the two people said.Under the terms of the national security pact, which the companies said they signed Friday, the U.S. government would retain a single share of preferred stock, called class G — as in gold. And U.S. Steel’s charter will list nearly a dozen activities the company cannot undertake without the approval of the American president or someone he designates in his stead.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    U.S. and China Agree to Walk Back Trade Tensions

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    Negotiators said the two governments would stick to a previous truce and reduce tensions that had escalated in recent weeks between the world’s largest economies.The United States and China have agreed to a “framework” that is intended to ease economic tension and extend a trade truce that the world’s two largest economies reached last month, officials from both countries said on Tuesday.After two days of marathon negotiations in London, top economic officials from the United States and China are now expected to present the new framework to their leaders, President Trump and President Xi Jinping, for final approval.The agreement is intended to solidify terms of a deal that the United States and China reached in Switzerland in May that unraveled in recent weeks. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was part of the negotiating team, said American concerns over China’s restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals and magnets had been resolved.“We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus,” Mr. Lutnick told reporters in London, describing the agreement as a “handshake.”He added that Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi would be briefed on the agreement before it took effect.“They were focused on trying to deliver on what President Xi told President Trump,” Mr. Lutnick said. “I think both sides had extra impetus to get things done.”The U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, who took part in the discussions, said they were also focused on ensuring compliance with what was agreed to in Geneva about rare earth mineral exports and tariffs. He said the two sides would remain in regular contact as they tried to work through their economic disagreements.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    US and China Talk Trade as Fight Over Rare Earths Escalates

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    Officials from the world’s largest economies will try to strike a deal Tuesday to relax painful export restrictions that they have imposed on each other.If the United States and China have succeeded at one thing this year, it is finding each other’s pain points.An initial clash over tariffs has grown in recent months into a competition over which country can weaponize its control over the other’s supply chains.China has clamped down on global shipments of rare minerals that are essential to building cars, missiles and a host of electronic products. The United States has in turn paused shipments to China of chemicals, machinery and technology including software and components to produce nuclear power, airplanes and semiconductors. As the conflict has escalated in recent weeks, it has caused Ford Motor and other companies to suspend some of their operations.Both countries are now trying to find a way to defuse the situation. Top-ranking officials from the two sides are meeting on Tuesday for a second day of trade negotiations at Lancaster House in London, a historical site that has long been a stage for international treaties. They gathered just days after President Trump held a 90-minute phone call with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader — the first time the two heads of state had spoken directly since Mr. Trump returned to office in January.The haste with which the negotiations were arranged reflects the severity of the measures that both countries have recently adopted. After Mr. Trump ratcheted up tariffs on China to a minimum of 145 percent in April, Beijing clamped down on exports of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to shut down operations by American manufacturers, defense contractors and others.U.S. and Chinese officials struck a temporary truce in a meeting in Geneva last month to roll back tariffs and, Trump administration officials believed, to restart a steady flow of rare earths to American companies. But shipments of the minerals, and the magnets made with them, remain infrequent and tightly controlled. In late May, Ford temporarily closed a factory in Chicago that makes its Explorer sport utility vehicle because of a lack of magnets.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Trump Aides Urge Court to Spare Tariffs as They Dismiss Worries in Public

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    The dueling narratives come as the administration is asking an appeals court to preserve a set of tariffs recently deemed to be illegal.Shortly after a federal trade court declared many of President Trump’s tariffs to be illegal, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, took to television to brush aside the setback.“It cost us a week, maybe,” Mr. Lutnick said this month on Fox News, noting that other countries remained eager to strike new deals despite tariffs being in legal jeopardy.“Everybody came right back to the table,” he added.With the fate of the president’s tariffs hanging in the balance, the Trump administration has tried to project dueling narratives. Top aides have insisted publicly that their negotiations remain unharmed, even as some of those same officials have pleaded with the court to spare Mr. Trump from reputational damage on the global stage.The administration will face two crucial tests on Monday. The government is scheduled to submit a new legal brief to a federal appeals court outlining why the tariffs should not go away, while Mr. Lutnick and other close Trump advisers meet with their Chinese counterparts in London to hammer out new trade terms.The court could factor in “any sort of public statements the administration makes” as it decides whether to preserve existing tariffs as the case plays out, said Ted Murphy, a co-leader of the trade practice at the law firm Sidley Austin.While Mr. Murphy said it remained to be seen how judges would view the government’s recent bullishness, he said that a decision that invalidated the president’s tariffs could “weaken the U.S. position” abroad.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    U.S. and China to Hold Economic Talks in London

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    Top American economic officials will meet with their Chinese counterparts next Monday in hopes of breaking a trade stalemate, President Trump said.President Trump said on Friday that the United States and China would begin their second round of economic talks on Monday in London, resuming negotiations over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals that have begun to threaten the global economic growthThe American delegation will be led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social. It was not immediately clear who would represent China, but He Lifeng, China’s vice premier for economic policy, led the previous round of talks in Switzerland.The talks come at a fragile moment for the global economy, which has been slowed by uncertainty and supply chain disruptions. The United States in April paused some of the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on dozens of countries to provide time for trade negotiations.Those levies, as well as steep import taxes on Chinese goods, were thrust into further uncertainty in late May, when a U.S. trade court deemed them illegal. The tariffs, however, currently remain in place while an appeal process unfolds. As the U.S. delegation meets in London, the Trump administration has a deadline to make its case to a federal appeals court for why the tariffs should continue.The announcement of Monday’s talks came a day after Mr. Trump held a call with Xi Jinping, China’s president, that was intended to break a deadlock that threatened to derail a trade truce that the countries reached in early May in Geneva. Under that truce, the United States reduced Mr. Trump’s tariff on Chinese imports to 30 percent from 145 percent, and China lowered its import duty on American goods to 10 percent from 125 percent.But in recent weeks, the tension between the two countries returned, tied to mineral exports to the United States, which China had recently halted. The Trump administration also proposed a plan to revoke visas for Chinese students associated with the Communist Party or studying in critical fields.Mr. Bessent, who has been leading the negotiations with China for the United States, recently acknowledged that the talks had stalled and suggested that it would be up to the two leaders to get them back on track.Then, last week, Mr. Trump said on social media that China had “violated” the agreement that was brokered in Switzerland. Beijing rejected that notion, accusing Washington of severely undermining the trade truce.The back and forth continued this week when Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday that Mr. Xi was “VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH.”A day later, however, Mr. Trump said that his 90-minute call with Mr. Xi had been productive.“I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal,” Mr. Trump said, adding that it “resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.” More

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    As Courts Call Tariffs Into Question, Trump Again Turns to His Favorite Tool

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    The president is set to raise tariffs on steel and aluminum this week, even as the courts are challenging the legitimacy of other levies.The legitimacy of President Trump’s tariffs is being questioned by U.S. courts, but the president is showing no signs of backing off his favorite tool.On Wednesday, the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on foreign steel and aluminum are set to double to 50 percent, a move that the president has said will better protect domestic metal makers.In the coming days, the U.S. government is set to face off with states and businesses that have sued over the president’s tariffs, and both sides will be required to submit more information as judges work toward final decisions on the legality of Mr. Trump’s steepest tariffs.Last Wednesday, the Court of International Trade ruled that some of the steep tariffs that Mr. Trump had imposed were illegal, a significant setback for the president’s agenda.Less than 24 hours later, a separate court temporarily paused that decision. As judges weigh that appeal, the tariffs in question — which include the levies Mr. Trump imposed on Canada, Mexico and China for what he said was their role in the fentanyl trade, as well as the global tariffs Mr. Trump announced, and then quickly paused, in April — are expected to remain in effect at least until June 9.On Sunday, one of Mr. Trump’s top trade advisers insisted that the president would continue to find ways to hit other countries with tariffs even after the trade court ruled against the defining element of Mr. Trump’s strategy.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Howard Lutnick, Trump’s ‘Buoyant’ Trade Warrior, Flexes His Power Over Global Business

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    Since Howard Lutnick was tapped to serve as President Trump’s commerce secretary, executives from some of the world’s largest companies have been trying to win him over.Leaders of Nvidia, Facebook, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Alphabet have visited his newly purchased $25 million property in Washington — a 16,250-square-foot mansion that Mr. Lutnick, a billionaire, recently quipped would be “big enough for my ego” — to persuade him to adopt a business-friendly agenda.As Mr. Trump ratcheted up tariffs to levels not seen in a century, Ford Motor, General Motors and other companies that have built their businesses around international trade reached out to Mr. Lutnick in the hope that he could persuade the president to take a less aggressive approach. Some chief executives have put in calls to the commerce secretary at midnight.Mr. Lutnick, 63, heads a department that both promotes and regulates industry, and he has been put in charge of overseeing trade. As a result, he has found himself in a position of incredible influence, as the go-between for a president imposing sweeping tariffs and the industries being crushed by them.A former bond trader who amassed billions on Wall Street, Mr. Lutnick has become one of the loudest salesmen for tariffs in an administration generally unified on their benefits. He has publicly echoed the president’s message that big tariffs are needed to revive American industry, and that if companies don’t like them, they should build factories in the United States.But in internal conversations in the administration, he has often been a voice for moderation. He argued in favor of Mr. Trump’s pausing his global tariffs for 90 days after they sent convulsions through the stock and bond markets. And he has made the case to the president to grant relief to certain favored industries, helping them to win exemptions from billions of dollars of levies.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    China Rejects Trump Claim of Tariff Talks With Xi

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    President Trump said that “we’re meeting with China” on tariffs, comments aimed at soothing jittery financial markets. But Chinese officials say no talks have taken place.President Trump, whose trade war with China has rattled financial markets and threatened to disrupt huge swaths of trade, suggested on Friday that he had been in touch with Xi Jinping, China’s president, even as Chinese officials insisted that no negotiations were occurring.In an interview with Time on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said Mr. Xi had called him, though he declined to say when, and asserted that his team was in active talks with China on a trade deal. Asked about the interview outside the White House on Friday morning, the president reiterated that he had spoken with the Chinese president “numerous times,” but he refused to answer when pressed on whether any call had happened after he imposed tariffs this month.Mr. Trump’s comments appeared aimed at creating the impression of progress with China to soothe jittery financial markets, which have fallen amid signs that the world’s largest economies are in a standoff. The S&P 500 is down 10 percent since Mr. Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.But the president’s claims of talks have been rejected by Chinese officials, who have repeatedly denied this week that they are actively negotiating with the United States.“China and the U.S. have not held consultations or negotiations on the issue of tariffs,” Guo Jiakun, the spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said in a news conference on Friday. “The United States should not confuse the public.”Chinese officials have repeatedly said the United States should stop threatening China and engage in dialogue on the basis of equality and respect. On Thursday, He Yadong, a spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry, said there were “no economic and trade negotiations between China and the United States.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    The Trump Billionaires Who Run the Economy and the Things They Say

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    “You have to laugh to keep from crying,” one Republican pollster said about recent comments by the billionaires on the stock market, retirement funds and Social Security.Sometimes the billionaires running the federal government sound like they’re talking to other billionaires.“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” President Trump wrote on social media last week, offering a stock tip that appeared aimed at the investor class rather than ordinary Americans watching their plummeting 401(k)s.Howard Lutnick, the secretary of commerce, has said his mother-in-law wouldn’t be worried if she didn’t get her monthly Social Security check. Elon Musk, who is slashing the Social Security Administration’s staff, has called it a “Ponzi scheme.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has asserted that Americans aren’t looking at the “day-to-day fluctuations” in their retirement savings.And if automakers raise their prices because of Mr. Trump’s tariffs? “I couldn’t care less,” the president told Kristen Welker of NBC.Democrats say the comments show how clueless Mr. Trump and his friends are about the lives of most Americans, and that this is what happens when billionaires run the economy. Republicans counter that highlighting the quotes is unfair cherry picking, and that in the long run everyone will benefit from their policies, even if there’s pain now. Psychologists say that extreme wealth does change people and their views of those who have less.Whoever is right, it is safe to say that almost no one thinks the comments have been politically helpful for Mr. Trump, or calming for Americans.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More