Biden cites need to ‘level playing field’ in long anticipated blocking of $14.6bn sale likely to roil ties with Tokyo.
Published On 3 Jan 2025
United States President Joe Biden has blocked the $14.9bn sale of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based US Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel.
The move on Friday deals a potentially fatal blow to the merger plan, which had been under review by the US government for a year.
Top Republicans and Democrats had been broadly opposed to the merger throughout the 2024 presidential election campaign season. But while Biden had criticised the plan, he had withheld a final decision amid concerns over roiling ties with ally Japan.
In his statement announcing the move, Biden cited a strategic need to protect domestic industry. “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,” he said.
“That is why I am taking action to block this deal.”
For their part, Nippon Steel and US Steel had characterised the merger as a lifeline for the flagging US company, which is the second largest steel producer in the US. Nippon had paid a hefty premium to make the purchase and faces a $565m penalty payment to US Steel following the deal’s collapse.
Opponents, including the powerful United Steelworkers (USW) union, warned that the Japanese owners would slash jobs following the acquisition. Despite those warnings, there had been movements among some rank-and-file members of the national union in support of the merger.
Nippon Steel’s attempts to calm concerns by pledging a pause on any layoffs or closures of unionised facilities through the current union contract expiring in September 2026 failed to attract wider acceptance of the deal. The company had also pledged to move its US headquarters to Pittsburgh.
On Friday, US