By Luciana Lopez and Chris Isidore, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump has approved a partnership between US Steel and Nippon Steel, the companies said in a release on Friday.

“We look forward to putting our commitments into action to make American steelmaking and manufacturing great again,” the companies said in a statement.

The steelmakers also entered into a national security agreement with the US government, the statement said.

A finalized partnership would cap a deal that had previously drawn bipartisan opposition, including a block by then-President Joe Biden early this year. But Trump dropped his opposition after taking office this year, making the fortunes of the once-mighty US Steel something of a stand-in for the manufacturing renaissance he said he wants to see across the United States.

“President Trump promised to protect American Steel and American Jobs — and he has delivered on that promise,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement. “Today’s executive order ensures US Steel will remain in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and be safeguarded as a critical element of America’s national and economic security.”

The national security agreement “provides that approximately $11 billion in new investments will be made by 2028, which includes the initial investment in a greenfield project that would be completed after 2028,” the companies said in their statement. The agreement also contains governance commitments, including a so-called “golden share” that could give the US government special say in how the partnership is run.

Shares of US Steel (X) climbed 5% on Friday in after-hours trading.

Trump traveled to Pennsylvania two weeks ago to celebrate a deal between the two companies, speaking before a crowd of cheering steelworkers, many in hard hats and safety vests.

“We’re going to be so successful. You have just, you have just started, you watch, we’re here today to celebrate a blockbuster agreement that will ensure this storied American company stays an American company, you’re going to stay an American company,” Trump said at a US Steel plant just outside of Pittsburgh.

US Steel had warned it would be forced to close some of its older, unionized mills unless the deal is completed and it gets the investment dollars needed to modernize.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union is concerned Nippon’s long-term goal is to shift production to its non-union operations in Texas or import steel from Japan to be finished in the United States, ending integrated steel production at US Steel.

Nippon Steel has promised, however, to honor the union’s contract with US Steel and to invest billions in integrated mills in Pennsylvania and Indiana.

US Steel was once a symbol of American industrial power. It was the most valuable company in the world and, soon after its 1901 creation, became the first to be worth $1 billion. Its steel helped build America, from the skyscrapers dotting city landscapes to the cars speeding down highways, to the appliances inside millions of homes.

But US Steel has declined sharply since its heyday. It is no longer even the largest US steelmaker, with only 14,000 US employees — 11,000 of whom are USW members.

This story has been updated with additional content.

CNN’s Robert Ilich contributed reporting.

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