Trump Has Seated Uncle Sam on U.S. Steel's Board and Handed Him Veto Powers Over Private Business Decisions

Jun 18, 2025

Nippon Steel has long pursued a buyout of U.S. Steel, and the Trump administration recently gave the deal its approval—with the condition of a seat on the board and veto power over the company’s policies by the president.

The Guardian describes the deal:

The golden share gives the US government veto authority over a raft of corporate decisions, from idling plants to cutting production capacity and moving jobs overseas, as previewed in a weekend social media post by the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick.
The share also gives the government a veto over a potential relocation of US Steel’s headquarters from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a transfer of jobs overseas, a name change, and any potential future acquisition of a rival business, the release shows.
The inclusion of the golden share to win approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which scrutinizes foreign investment for national security risks, could drive overseas investors away from US companies, national security lawyers said on Monday. …
After the United Steelworkers union came out against the deal last year, both then president Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, expressed their opposition as they sought to woo voters in Pennsylvania, a key swing state, in the presidential election campaign.

In this case, the executive power grab might have happened even without Trump. It is a reminder that the dictatorial power Trump is now claiming has been—in part and perhaps unwittingly—prepared for him by his predecessors of both parties.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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