The Trump administration stepped in to stop U.S. Steel from idling operations at its Granite City, Ill., plant, exercising new powers tied to the company's recent takeover, the Wall Street Journal reported .

The steelmaker had informed nearly 800 workers that the plant would close in November, noting however that they would still be paid. But after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned CEO Dave Burritt the administration wouldn't allow it, U.S. Steel reversed course on Friday, saying the facility would keep rolling slabs into sheet steel, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The intervention marked Trump's first use of so-called "golden share" rights, a condition of the $14.1 billion takeover by Japan's Nippon that cleared in June. The national-security

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