By AZ Mirror
President Joe Biden announced early Friday he will block the sale of U.S. Steel to the Japanese company Nippon Steel, in one of the last acts of his presidency.
Biden had said that U.S. Steel should remain a domestically owned and operated company, so the order was not a surprise. The White House in December called for “serious scrutiny” of the $14.1 billion deal, which was under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an executive branch body.
“We need major U.S. companies representing the major share of US steelmaking capacity to keep leading the fight on behalf of America’s national interests,” Biden said in a Friday statement. “As a committee of national security and trade experts across the executive branch determined, this acquisition would place one of America’s largest steel producers under foreign control and create risk for our national security and our critical supply chains.
“So, that is why I am taking action to block this deal. It is my solemn responsibility as President to ensure that, now and long into the future, America has a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry that can continue to power our national sources of strength at home and abroad; and it is a fulfillment of that responsibility to block foreign ownership of this vital American company. U.S. Steel will remain a proud American company – one that’s American-owned, American-operated, by American union steelworkers – the best in the world,” he said.
