PITTSBURGH — President Joe Biden is preparing to block the sale of U.S. steel to Japanese company Nippon Steel, The Washington Post reported on Wednesdayand the company questioned its future in Pittsburgh if the deal fell through.
Japan-based Nippon Steel proposed buying the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker last December in a deal valued at $14.9 billion. The deal immediately drew opposition from Pennsylvania lawmakers and the United Steelworkers union, which said the company failed to inform union leaders of the deal’s imminence.
On Wednesday, U.S. Steel held a rally outside its headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh to show support for the deal.
“Today’s rally is intended to show support for the Nippon Steel deal. We want elected leaders and other key decision-makers to see the benefits of the deal, as well as the inevitable consequences if it falls through,” U.S. Steel Chairman and CEO David B. Burritt said in a statement.
The company said in a press release that without the Nippon deal, U.S. Steel “will largely move away from its blast furnace operations” and that “the lack of a deal with Nippon Steel raises serious questions about whether U.S. Steel will continue to be headquartered in Pittsburgh.”
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), one of the most vocal critics of the deal, slammed company executives in a statement Wednesday.
“As I have always said, I will follow and stand with the United Steelworkers against the brazen executives who are looking for a golden parachute,” Fetterman said. “I am calling the executives of U.S. Steel out for crap, as I did shortly after the first announcement.”
Fetterman lives across the street from U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thompson plant in Braddock. He and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-17th District) have urged the Biden administration to block the sale. The lawmakers wrote letter to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asking the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to block the deal. While Japan is not a foreign adversary of the U.S., lawmakers noted that Nippon does business and operates facilities in China.
Casey criticized Burritt in a statement released Wednesday.
“David Burritt’s threats to leave the same community that built U.S. Steel are a slap in the face to the steel workers whose skills and work ethic contribute to the company’s success, as well as to the residents of southwestern Pennsylvania who depend on the steel industry for their livelihoods,” Casey said. “My priority is keeping steel jobs in the Mon Valley, and I encourage Mr. Burritt to come to the table and work with steel workers to protect and keep those jobs in Pennsylvania where they belong.”
Biden said in March It was “essential” that U.S. Steel remain American-owned and operated, a point he reiterated during April Campaign Visit to US Steelworkers Plant in Pittsburgh.
Deluzio said Wednesday that company management has shown it does not respect the mill unionists who created it.
“And now they’re threatening to close the Pittsburgh site and Mon Valley Works. At all times, they’ve neglected investing in Western Pennsylvania and other areas with strong unions in favor of investing in facilities in anti-union states with non-union workers,” Deluzio said in a statement. statement published on social media“They can dress it up however they want, but their cartoonish anti-union behaviour puts them in good company with the robber barons they emulate: their business model seems to be to break up the union.”
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, also criticized the takeover and vowed to block it if he wins another term.
American steel shareholders voted to approve sale to Nippon in April.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, told a crowd of union workers on Monday that U.S. Steel should remain a domestic company and be under national management.
“The president made this point: U.S. Steel is a historic American company, and it’s critically important to our country that we maintain a strong American steel company,” Harris said.
This story was updated on September 4, 2024 at 5:03 p.m. with an updated statement from Senator Casey, and at 5:25 p.m. with a statement from Representative Deluzio.
