*

Company veteran Takahiro Mori the face of Japan firm's bid

*

Mori has made about 10 trips to U.S. since start of 2025

*

Nippon Steel ( NISTF ) has long sought U.S. Steel purchase

*

Trump voices support after political firestorm

By John Geddie, Tim Kelly and Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO, May 26 (Reuters) - Snow lay thick in the

Pittsburgh suburbs as Takahiro Mori, a bespectacled, 67-year-old

executive from Japan's Nippon Steel ( NISTF ), huddled in a cluttered

garage with community leaders to reassure them he was not giving

up on a bid to buy the town's steel mill.

Just days before the early January meeting, U.S. President

Joe Biden had blocked Nippon Steel's ( NISTF ) proposed $14.9

billion takeover of U.S. Steel, a move both companies said

risked thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment.

With Biden's incoming successor Donald Trump also voicing

opposition to the planned purchase, the outlook was bleak.

Fast forward five months and the persistence shown by the

firm's chief negotiator seems set to pay off, with Trump now

signalling he is prepared to support a deal.

"It's been a long, hard battle," said Chris Kelly, the

70-year-old mayor of West Mifflin who hosted Mori for the

January meeting at his garage-cum-office on a suburban

residential street near U.S. Steel's ageing Irvin plant.

He said he has met Mori on several occasions since Nippon

Steel's ( NISTF ) bid was first unveiled in late 2023, including at an

American football game and a Pittsburgh restaurant just over a

week ago when the Japanese executive flew in to give an update

on the latest developments of the planned takeover.

Nippon Steel ( NISTF ) declined to comment on the meetings.

Mori, a 40-year company veteran, has been the public face of

Nippon Steel's ( NISTF ) extensive efforts to convince local workers,

officials and U.S. lawmakers of the economic merits of a merger

plan that has had to weather a political firestorm.

"I just have a strong desire to make this work somehow," a

calm and smiling Mori, who serves as the company's vice chairman

and executive vice president, told Reuters in an interview last

week when asked about how he had personally endured the saga.

Mori said he had made around 10 trips to the United States

since the start of the year alone, visiting steel towns and

Washington DC, where lawmakers have been deliberating over any

potential national security risks posed by the transaction.

"On the plane to the destination, I can hardly sleep," he

said, explaining that he had to read reams of documents, prepare

for meetings during the flight, and work through the night to

manage tasks back in Japan.

There may still be twists ahead. While Trump has said he

supports a "planned partnership" between the two companies,

lingering questions remain about the scope of the deal and its

costs for the Japanese firm.

HIGH STAKES

For Japan's top steelmaker, U.S. Steel is central to its

global expansion strategy at a time when domestic demand is

declining.

A merger would create the world's third-largest steel

producer by volume, after China's Baowu Steel Group and

Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, according to World Steel

Association data.

While Mori has had a hand in the firm's overseas expansion

efforts in places like Brazil and India, the acquisition of a

company centred in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania in

an election year presented unique challenges.

As soon as the agreement was announced in December 2023, the

politically-influential United Steelworkers union issued a

statement condemning U.S. Steel for selling the storied American

firm to a foreign-owned company.

Within weeks, Biden had joined his election challenger Trump

in saying he was against the deal, subjecting it to the first of

two rounds of national security reviews by the secretive

Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

Just before Trump signalled support on Friday, the union

issued a statement alleging Nippon Steel ( NISTF ) was "a serial trade

cheater" and that the sale would be "a disaster" for American

steelworkers.

In an interview with Reuters in December, union chief David

McCall, said he was frustrated by what he said was the Japanese

company's refusal to give assurances about their long-term

commitment to the company and its workers. However, he described

Mori, his opposite man in those talks, as "personable".

What appears to have swung the deal back in Nippon Steel's ( NISTF )

favour with the transactional Trump is money.

The firm has plans to invest $14 billion in U.S. Steel's

operations, including up to $4 billion in a new steel mill,

Reuters exclusively reported last week.

But on the ground in Pittsburgh at least, the persistence

and personal touch of Mori, who obtained a masters degree from

the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1992, has

also left an impression on some of those he has met.

"They've embraced everything about the city of Pittsburgh,"

said Kelly, the mayor, recounting that Mori was yelling and

waving a towel in support when the pair attended a match for the

local Pittsburgh Steelers American football team last year.