After more than 17 months of lobbying and close-fought negotiations to secure control of United States Steel Corp., Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. appeared on Friday to have received a presidential blessing.

Days later, however, investors, executives and diplomats are still unsure of what exactly the U.S. president endorsed.

Donald Trump heralded a “planned partnership” between the two industrial heavyweights, claiming it would create “at least 70,000 jobs” — roughly five times US Steel’s current American employees — and add $14 billion to the U.S. economy. But his unexpected announcement stopped short of explicitly endorsing Nippon Steel’s proposed $14.1 billion cash takeover of US Steel, instead asserting that the company would “remain American.” He gave no further details.

The two companies, left to grapple with ambiguity, publicly praised the “partnership” and a “bold” decision. Neither commented specifically on the planned purchase or elaborated. US Steel shares closed more than 21% higher on Friday anyway — after surging as much as 26% — signaling renewed investor optimism around the acquisition.

Trump, whose verdict is the last step in the process of determining whether the purchase can go ahead, had previously expressed support for Japanese investment in US Steel, but opposed a full takeover. Writing on social media in December, he said that he was “totally against the once great and powerful US Steel being bought by a foreign company” — a rare area of alignment with predecessor Joe Biden, who blocked the deal in January, following a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

An approval of a full purchase now would mark a significant about-face.

Still, Trump’s statements late last week come as Japan and the U.S. are also locked in negotiations over trade tariffs. Japan’s top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington last week as part of a third round of tariff talks. That followed a telephone call between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Trump’s blessing — and billions of dollars of Japanese capital — could bring about a new era for the U.S. steelmaker, once the world’s largest company. But pressing ahead would also force Nippon Steel to justify to its shareholders an investment with significant constraints, including the potential obligation to keep aging, less-efficient and higher-cost integrated assets running.

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