US President Joe Biden’s economic advisor, Lael Brainard, said on Thursday that the president supports the initiation of the procedure regarding the acquisition of steel producer US Steel by the Japanese group Nippon Steel.
Nippon Steel announced Monday it is purchasing U.S. Steel, based in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The value of the operation will be 14.9 billion dollars.
The decision was quickly criticized by several Republicans, including Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman.
In addition, the company’s factories are located, for example, in Michigan, as well as Pennsylvania. Both states voted for Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, but narrowly supported Democrat Biden in 2020. A balanced fight is expected in these states again this time.
Biden has repeatedly called himself the most pro-union president. However, the steel workers’ union is concerned about the company’s transfer to Japanese owners.
This provoked a reaction from the White House. Lael Brainard, Biden’s economic adviser, said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) could investigate the purchase deal despite Japan being a close US ally.
He added that the administration wants to review the commission’s findings and that the White House will take some action if necessary.
The US steelworkers union United Steelworkers (USW) supported Brainard’s speech. The union represents 850,000 US industrial workers and supported Joe Biden’s 2020 election campaign.
“Our union shares many of the concerns expressed in the White House announcement, including how this agreement will affect the future of the nation’s steel industry,” USW President David McCall said.
Nippon Steel has already promised to abide by the USW workers’ collective bargaining agreement with US Steel. In a comment to the Financial Times, the Japanese group said that the purchase agreement would benefit all parties. The company also said it was ready to start a dialogue with the union and the US authorities.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s chief of staff, declined to comment on the White House announcement, calling it “a matter of individual business management.”
“The Japan-US alliance is stronger than ever,” Hayashi said at a news conference, vowing that the US and Japan will continue to cooperate in various areas, including economic security.
The Biden administration boasted on Tuesday that industrial subsidies distributed under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed by Democrats and supported by the president, helped create 200,000 jobs in the United States. Questioning the future of U.S. Steel jobs would undermine the administration’s message.
2023-12-22 16:27:00
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