United States Steel is likely to cease processing steel slabs at Granite City Works in Illinois, according to news reports, marking the company¡¯s first major operational shift since Nippon Steel acquired the storied steelmaker just three months ago.

U.S. Steel, now fully owned by Nippon Steel, said it¡¯s likely to end production at the plant in November, but it won¡¯t lay off any workers there or reduce their pay, according to the Associated Press.

indicates the workers will be able to keep their jobs until at least 2027, as outlined in a national security agreement between Nippon Steel and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The agreement gives the U.S. president a ¡°golden share¡± in post-acquisition U.S. Steel, which forbids certain corporate decisions without the president¡¯s approval.

These include decisions related to closing or idling U.S. Steel¡¯s existing manufacturing facilities in the U.S., with exceptions related to safety concerns or temporary idling for upgrades.

Nippon Steel referred a request for comment to U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel did not immediately respond to a request to comment outside U.S. business hours.

Granite City Works, located 15 minutes north of St. Louis by car, produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated sheets for construction, containers, piping and automobiles, according to U.S. Steel¡¯s website. It has an annual raw steelmaking capacity of 2.8 million net tons.

The steelmaker shut the two blast furnaces at the plant years ago, one in 2019 and the other in 2023, but the facility has continued to process steel slabs even though it no longer produces raw steel.

Nippon Steel completed the purchase of U.S. Steel in June following an 18-month saga, which had involved electoral politics, scrutiny over national security implications and rejections by a powerful steelmakers¡¯ union and two U.S. presidents.

The company ultimately received Trump¡¯s blessing after it made a series of pledges confirming that the deal would not jeopardize U.S. national security and that the U.S. government will have a degree of control.

The commitments included big investments about equal in size to the purchase price, maintaining U.S. Steel¡¯s domestic production capacity, keeping the company¡¯s headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and having a board in which the majority of the directors and key management posts are held by American citizens.

A $3.1 billion project to upgrade U.S. Steel¡¯s largest blast furnace is progressing at the Gary Works located in Indiana, the Nikkei reported last month.