President Biden announced Friday that he would block the sale of U.S. Steel to Japanese-owned Nippon Steel after a year of studying the potential deal.
“To continue leading the fight on behalf of America's national interests, we need America's largest companies, which account for a major share of America's steel production capacity,” Biden said in a statement. “As determined by a committee of national security and trade experts from across the executive branch, this acquisition would place one of the largest steel producers in the United States under foreign control and would threaten national security and critical supplies. It would pose a risk to the chain.”
“That's why I'm taking action to stop this deal,” Biden said.
Nippon Steel has previously hinted at the possibility. take legal actionIf the transaction is blocked. US Steel tooI said I hopeBiden is likely to approve the deal.
Nippon Steel's first trainAnnounced in December 2023The company announced plans to acquire US Steel for approximately $15 billion. The planned deal has raised alarm among Pennsylvania lawmakers and steel workers about how it could affect job outsourcing, union workers and the U.S. supply chain. I raised it.
The president said last March that it was “critically important” that U.S. Steel remain domestically owned and operated.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews certain transactions involving foreign investment, spent about a year reviewing the potential transaction. Although Mr. Biden publicly opposed it, the deal came amid complex election-year politics in which Mr. Biden and future Vice President Harris sought to court union voters and project strength. The White House did not make an official statement on whether it would block the move or allow it to proceed. About economic issues.
“As I've said many times, steel production and the steel workers who produce it are the backbone of our country,” Biden said Friday. “A strong, domestically owned and operated steel industry is a key national security priority and critical to a resilient supply chain.
“That's because steel underpins our nation's infrastructure, our automotive industry, and our defense industrial base,” he added. “Without domestic steel production and domestic steel workers, our nation is less powerful and less secure.”
President-elect Trump also he said block Nippon Steel's efforts to acquire US Steel.
David McCall, President, International Steelworkers Union said in a statement Friday. The union said it “welcomes President Biden's decision to block the U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel Agreement.”
“There is no question that this is the right thing to do for our members and for our national security,” McCall said.
“During the past year as the proposed transaction was under consideration, our union's first and only concern was the security of our facilities, where we want to ensure a strong domestic steel industry into the future. It was about long-term viability.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (Democrat) stated in a statement On Friday, he said the issue was “not over yet” and that “long-term solutions” were needed to ensure the stability of the commonwealth's steel industry.
Updated at 11:33 a.m. ET
