Biden and Harris want the company to remain domestically owned, while Trump has said flatly he will block it. The leadership of the United Steelworkers union also opposes the deal. But among other stakeholders and some union members, opinion is more mixed: Some support the deal because they are concerned that another buyer would not match Nippon Steel’s promises to invest $2.7 billion in some plants.
Nippon Steel Executive Vice President Takahiro Mori traveled to Washington for meetings on Wednesday. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is required to review the deal and send a recommendation to Biden’s desk. As of Wednesday, it had not done so, according to a U.S. official who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. People familiar with the matter said earlier this month that Biden planned to cancel the sale once it reached his desk.
US Steel shares closed up 7% in New York on Wednesday, posting their biggest intraday rise since Dec. 18. Nippon Steel shares rose as much as 2% at the open on Thursday but had given back almost all of those gains by late morning in Tokyo.
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Several U.S. and Japanese business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Japan Business Federation, issued a joint letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who also chairs the foreign investment committee. “We fear that the CFIUS process is being used to advance political agendas that are outside the committee’s purview and that endanger the American economy and American workers,” they said.
Some union members and political figures are voicing support for a deal that would otherwise face fierce opposition from union leaders and the highest echelons of U.S. politics. Many of the rank-and-file workers at three plants near Pittsburgh want the deal approved, Jason Zugai, vice president of United Steelworkers Local 2227, said in an interview.
Zugai represents workers at one of three plants in Mon Valley, Pennsylvania, that could benefit from Nippon Steel’s proposal to invest at least $1 billion there. “The deal that’s on the table would lock in jobs in Mon Valley for the next 50 to 100 years,” he said. While some local members favor the offer, the cross-industry United Steelworkers union opposes the deal.
“The bottom line of this merger is that it jeopardizes national security and critical supply chains,” United Steel Workers President Dave McCall said in a statement, insisting that Nippon’s commitments come with “so many conditions that render their promises worthless.” “Now USS and Nippon are politicizing the situation in a last-ditch attempt to save the deal,” he said.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who has neither publicly supported nor opposed the deal, is acting as a behind-the-scenes mediator of sorts. Shapiro’s office said earlier this month that he was working “with all parties to find a solution that protects Pennsylvania jobs.” The White House and Shapiro’s office declined to comment.
In his communications with management, Shapiro has not expressed opposition to blocking the sale and has said he supports the steelworkers, according to a person familiar with the matter who also asked not to be identified discussing the talks.
U.S. Steel has threatened to close plants and move its headquarters out of Pennsylvania if the takeover falls through. But McCall has strongly opposed the deal, saying Nippon Steel refuses to put its parent company’s name on the deal or offer sufficient assurances to the union. “At the end of the day, there are still going to be people interested in U.S. Steel,” he said in an interview last week.
The company has refuted this claim: “There is no scenario in which US Steel would make these investments without Nippon Steel. A transaction with Nippon Steel is the best path to ensure that US Steel can prosper in the future,” US Steel said in a statement.
On Wednesday, U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel took the extraordinary step of releasing their private correspondence with the union, saying they want to fight “public misrepresentations of our communications with the USW.” Mori, in a Sept. 3 letter to McCall, said, “I personally remain convinced that if you and I can work together, we can achieve amazing results for U.S. Steel and the USW members.”
“We are confident that Nippon Steel’s acquisition of US Steel will benefit American workers, local communities and national security in ways that no other alternative can,” Nippon Steel said in a statement.
U.S. firm Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has expressed interest in buying part or all of U.S. Steel, but Nippon Steel has outbid it. The firm’s chief executive has said the company may still be interested. Pennsylvania’s two senators, Bob Casey, who is running for re-election, and John Fetterman, also oppose the deal.
Pennsylvania, where both US Steel and the union are based, is a key battleground state and the issue has become intertwined with the US presidential election. But neither Harris nor Trump addressed the issue in their debate on Tuesday, held in Pennsylvania.
Biden and Harris have said U.S. Steel should remain American-owned and operated — “guaranteed,” Biden once said. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has vowed to kill the sale, and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, is a longtime opponent of the deal.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s chief government spokesman and a candidate for the ruling party leadership, said in an interview with Bloomberg last week after Biden was reported to be willing to block the deal that he remains hopeful the sale can go ahead. “It’s still ongoing and we don’t know the outcome yet,” Hayashi said.
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In Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh and several U.S. Steel facilities, County Council member Sam DeMarco is in favor of the deal. As many as 7,500 jobs depend directly and indirectly on U.S. Steel operations in the Pittsburgh area, DeMarco said.
“A lot of the people on the bases are worried about having a job in the future and the ability to put food on the family table and a roof over the family’s head,” DeMarco said.
At the Irvin plant, shift manager and former USW member Justin Calderone supports the deal. “I haven’t had a lot of run-ins with people saying, ‘You can’t sell us this and that,'” Calderone said. “I’d say 90 percent of the people here think the Nippon purchase is the best thing for our facility.”
Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, a Republican, supports the sale. “My message to both parties is take a look at the concessions that have been made. Take a look at the investment that was promised,” she said in an interview, referring to Biden’s decision. “It would be devastating if Biden cancels this and then four or five years later, U.S. Steel says, ‘We’re leaving.’”
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