by Will Kessler
President Joe Biden is expected to announce his opposition to the foreign acquisition of the iconic American company U.S. Steel on Thursday as he looks to win over blue collar voters, according to The Associated Press.
The Japanese Nippon Steel Corporation first announced that it would be acquiring U.S. Steel, the world’s fourth-largest steel producer, in December for around $14.9 billion after entertaining multiple offers, including from American steel company Cleveland Cliffs. The announcement is part of the president’s bid to sway blue-collar voters and union members by positioning himself as supporting American manufacturing, with the remarks to be delivered in the battleground state of Michigan, according to the AP.
“U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated,” Biden’s statement reads, according to the AP. The president also notes that the U.S. needs to “maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers.”
The president does not plan to intervene to block the deal, according to sources who spoke to the AP. Former President Donald Trump has said that he would block the deal immediately.
Following the announcement of the deal in December, a group of three Republican senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calling for the Biden administration to block the acquisition of U.S. Steel. The senators argued that the foreign acquisition would pose a national security risk.
After the letter was sent, Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council, noted that the acquisition needs to be scrutinized for national security and supply chain risks. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in the Treasury Department is the body that investigates acquisitions like that of U.S. Steel.
Biden has struggled to curry the favor of steel workers, with the United Steelworkers Union and a group of steel manufacturers in July 2023 sending a letter to the Treasury Department criticizing the Biden administration for allowing tax incentives to help Chinese steel manufacturers. The union and firms were critical of tax credits for green energy projects that left the door open for companies to use foreign steel when making certain parts on solar panels.
“The Biden-Slotkin agenda has priced families out of buying groceries and owning homes, made neighborhoods and the world less safe while criminal cartels operate in Michigan thanks to their open border policies, and will cost Michigan thousands of auto jobs thanks to their reckless EV mandates,” former Republican Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, who is currently running for a Senate seat in the state, said in response to Biden’s visit to Michigan. “Biden’s visit today will do nothing to stop the pain his and Slotkin’s[Democrat running for Michigan Senate seat] policies have inflicted on Michigan families, who simply cannot afford four to six more years of their policies.”
U.S. Steel was founded in Pittsburgh in 1901 by J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie through the merger of the Federal Steel Company and the Carnegie Steel Company.
The White House, Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel did not immediately respond to a request to comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Will Kessler is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Joe Biden” by President Joe Biden. Background Photo “U.S. Steel Factory” by Roy Luck. CC BY 2.0.
