Trump's intentions are unclear. How Japanese steel and American steel can be traded remains a mystery.

After more than 17 months of lobbying and intense negotiations, Japan Steel's pursuit of control over American steel seemed to have received the approval of the US president last Friday. However, a few days later, investors, corporate executives, and diplomats were still uncertain about what exactly the president had agreed to. Donald Trump claimed that the two industrial giants "plan to collaborate" and create "at least 70,000 jobs" about five times the current number of American Steel employees and contribute $14 billion to the US economy. But this unexpected statement did not explicitly support Japan Steel's proposed $14.1 billion cash acquisition of American Steel, but instead claimed that the company would "stay in the US." In his speech on Sunday, he did not clarify further. "It will be controlled by the US, otherwise I wouldn't do the deal," Trump said to reporters at Morristown Airport in New Jersey as he headed back to Washington. "It's an investment, it's a partial ownership, but it will be controlled by the US." Amidst a cloud of uncertainty, both companies publicly praised this "collaboration" and "bold" decision on Friday. Neither side later commented or elaborated on specific details. However, American Steel's stock price rose more than 21% at the close on Friday, indicating that investors were hopeful about the acquisition. Japan Steel also rose 7.4% in the Tokyo market on Monday.