Shares for the United States Steel Corporation fell as President Joe Biden is reportedly planning to block Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation from purchasing the company.
U.S. Steel was reported to have finished the day with its shares down 17.5 percent, according to the Washington Post.
This comes as three people close to the matter spoke to the outlet “on the condition of anonymity” and revealed that Biden is planning to block a nearly $15 billion deal, selling U.S. Steel to the Japanese company.
The outlet reported that the “acquisition has been under investigation by the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) for potential national security implications”:
The acquisition has been under investigation by the interagency Committe 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 recommendatoin to the president. Under the law, the president can block a private transaction only after receiving the panel’s final report.
As Breitbart News previously reported, in August, former President Donald Trump vowed to block Nippon Steel from purchasing U.S. Steel and added that he would “invoke the Defense Production Act” in order to “quickly ramp up capacity of essential products.”
With the help of companies like this one, we will rebuild our hollowed-out defense industrial base – ensuring that America is never in a situation where we don’t have the tanks, missiles, and raw materials to fight and win a war.
Upon taking office, I will invoke the Defense Production Act wherever it is necessary to quickly ramp up capacity of essential products, and I will stop Japan from buying U.S. Steel.
In December 2023, it was announced that U.S. Steel would be sold to Nippon Steel.
David Burritt, the CEO of U.S. Steel, warned in a press release that “without” the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, the company would “largely pivot away from its blast furnace facilities,” which would lead “thousands of good-paying union jobs” to be “at risk.” Burritt wrote in a press release:
Without the Nippon Steel transaction, U.S. Steel will largely pivot away from its blast furnace facilities, putting thousands of good-paying union jobs at risk, negatively impacting numerous communities across the locations where its facilities exist, and depriving the American steel industry of an opportunity to better compete on the global stage.
Nippon Steel reportedly recently “increased its planned investment in the new U.S. Steel by $1.3 billion,” according to the outlet:
Last week, Nippon Steel increased its planned investment in the new U.S. Steel by $1.3 billion in addition to the $1.4 billion it had previously detailed. The Japanese company said the extra money would modernize two of U.S. Steel’s largest facilities, the Mon Valley Works in Pennsylvania and Gary Works in Indiana.
Lawmakers such as Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) have issued warnings over the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel.
Fetterman has previously written to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calling for the deal to be blocked.