Last week, President Trump abruptly reversed his own campaign commitment, and an earlier order by Joe Biden, to allow Japan’s Nippon Steel to acquire the flagship domestic company U.S. Steel. The more one looks into the details of the proposed deal, the stranger it is.

The deal was announced on social media last week right after Trump met with Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick, who is a big promoter of the idea. “This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs and add $14 Billion Dollars to the U.S. Economy,” Mr. Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social.

Supposedly, Nippon Steel will invest $14 billion in U.S. Steel. But somehow U.S. Steel will remain a domestic company, with an American CEO and a majority of American board members. Trump also spoke of a “Golden Share,” which gives the U.S. Treasury a veto over key company decisions on national-security grounds.

The problem is that none of this is in writing. In classic Trump fashion, none of it was staffed out. No senior trade officials or cabinet members were involved in negotiating it. They learned of it on social media.