President Joe Biden has blocked the acquisition of the U.S. Steel Corporation by Japan's Nippon Steel. It was a victory for President-elect Donald Trump, who had vowed to take action himself if President Biden did not take over.
On Friday, Biden announced He would use the Defense Production Act of 1950 to block Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel.
(1) Nippon Steel Corporation, a stock company organized under the laws of Japan. (Nippon Steel)…Possibility of taking actions that may harm the national security of the United States; [Emphasis added]
As Breitbart News reported in 2023, executives at U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel are selling the iconic American steel giants, which were vital to the U.S. military in World War II against Japan, to Japanese companies. The company was seeking a deal valued at nearly $15 billion.
Nippon Steel hired Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is urging President Trump and the Biden administration to change their positions on acquisitions. However, lobbying efforts yielded no such results.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest lobbying group for multinational corporations, similarly opposes Biden and Trump's position to block the deal.
“The Biden administration's politicization of Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel threatens to impose a high economic price on Americans in the coming years,” said Chamber of Commerce Executive John Murphy. “The first negative impact will likely be on steelworkers in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and other states whose livelihoods are threatened by this decision.”
Like Trump, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance is a leading opponent in the Senate of Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel. Last May, Vance and Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) urged the Biden administration to block the deal.
Founded in 1901 by Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Charles Schwab, U.S. Steel played a key role in the nation's “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II.
Among several American companies that helped the Allies defeat the Axis powers, including Empire of Japan, U.S. Steel made America the world's largest steel producer during the war and established Pennsylvania as the nation's steel capital. It became.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
