A top Nippon Steel executive and the CEO of US Steel will meet with senior US officials on Wednesday in an effort to salvage Nippon’s $14.9 billion bid for US Steel, a person familiar with the matter said.
The meeting, which will include Takahiro Mori, a key Nippon negotiator on the deal, and U.S. Steel Chief Executive David Burritt, is expected to include Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves, among other officials, said the person, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
The Treasury Department, which heads the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Nippon Steel and US Steel declined to comment. The Commerce Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Wednesday’s meeting comes amid opposition to the deal from both Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Both are vying to win the key swing state of Pennsylvania, where US Steel is based.
Burritt plans to discuss the merger at an appearance next week at the Detroit Economic Club. An unsolicited bid for U.S. Steel last year from rival Cleveland-Cliffs that was rejected by U.S. Steel had raised concerns Concerns of American car manufacturers.
The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) and several American business groups expressed concern in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that the Biden administration’s ongoing national security review of Nippon Steel’s planned acquisition of US Steel is being unduly influenced by political pressure. The review is being conducted by CFIUS.
In late August, CFIUS sent a letter warning the companies that their proposed merger would threaten U.S. national security by weakening the country’s steel supply chain. First reported by Reuterswhich seems to condemn the proposed agreement to failure.
“CFIUS should never become a tool for political posturing and should not morph into industrial policy disguised as national security,” the business groups said in their letter. “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 workers.”
The companies responded in a 100-page letter, also reviewed by Reuters, that the deal would actually strengthen U.S. steel production by allowing a much-needed cash injection from a company in an allied nation to a struggling U.S. company in a critical industry.
“It is essential for both Japan and the United States to further strengthen economic relations, including expanding mutual investment,” Japanese government spokesman Hideki Murai said at a news conference Thursday, though he declined to comment specifically on the deal.
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