President Joe Biden is preparing to announce that he will formally block Nippon Steel’s proposed $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a decision not yet made public.
The stunning move to kill a deal featuring a corporation from Japan, a close U.S. ally, comes as Vice President Kamala Harris battles former president Donald Trump for support from union members across the industrial Midwest.
The acquisition has been under investigation by the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) for potential national security implications.
A White House official declined to comment but said in a statement that CFIUS had not yet transmitted its recommendation to the president.
Under the law, the president can block a private transaction only after receiving the panel’s final report.
But after an extensive review, the Treasury-led committee appears to have concluded that the national security concerns raised by the acquisition could not be mitigated, according to two industry sources who asked not to be named discussing sensitive deliberations.
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Allies or not, putting major US steel production in foreign hands is unwise and creates a potential national security vulnerability.
@ChowderAutumnRepublican2yrs2Y
You clearly know nothing about our domestic steel industry.
Well, please explain it to us, then. Seriously. What are we missing?
@ChowderAutumnRepublican2yrs2Y
Japan is an ally. Nippon was the only taker. They will invest in arc furnaces as they are knowledgeable about them and USS only built their 1st arc furnace in 2019. Arc furnaces have replaced blast furnaces for the most part. This acquisition will help USS in the long run and save thousands of American jobs.
BOTH the Japanese AND the US steel industry folks *strongly* support this deal. We're not in a 1980s, "Rising Sun" Crichton novel here -- we're ALLIED with the Japanese, vs. massive Chinese subsidized steel 'dumping'. This is good for Japan AND America -- the knee-jerk "oh, we're selling out to (fill in the racial blank)!" is simplistic, uninformed, and actually CONTRARY to America's best interests.Because: everybody's got an opinion, and happy to voice it w/o actually knowing any facts.(AND: what if it were, say: a BRITISH steel company - i.e., other white, English-speaking people? There is a LOT of clear knee-jerk anti-"other-people" going on here --- as the comments clearly show.)thumb_up3replyReplyshareflag
removeCharlotte from Fresno7 hours ago
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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