White House: U.S. Steel deal deserving of ‘serious scrutiny’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s top economic adviser said Thursday that the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to the Japaneseowned Nippon Steel Corp. “appears to deserve serious scrutiny.”
National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard said the transaction deserved review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, headed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Biden administration would “be ready to look carefully at the findings of any such investigation and to act if appropriate.”
“The purchase of this iconic American-owned company by a foreign entity — even one from a close ally — appears to deserve serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability,” Ms. Brainard said.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania and Ohio vowed to block the deal and have written to Ms. Yellen, asking for the foreign investment committee to stop the nearly $15 billion purchase of the iconic Pittsburgh-based steel manufacturer.
Ms. Brainard said Mr. Biden “believes U.S. Steel was an integral part of our arsenal of democracy in WWII and remains a core component of the overall domestic steel production that is critical to our national security.” And she said the president wants the review even as the country wants “manufacturers across the world building their futures in America with American jobs and American workers.”
“Steel is the backbone of American manufacturing on everything from infrastructure to cars to our clean energy,” Ms. Brainard said.
The proposed sale comes at a time when Mr. Biden has signed legislation to encourage domestic manufacturing, expand clean energy and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.
Both the White House and Congress also have expressed concern about the future of the unionized steelworkers at U.S. Steel, even as Nippon Steel said it would honor existing collective bargaining agreements.
U.S. Steel had 3,700 employees at the end of last year in southwestern Pennsylvania, where its corporate headquarters are located and where it operates its Clairton, Edgar Thomson, and Irvin plants.
“Everybody should be concerned about the future of U.S. Steel,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler. “I’m concerned about the potential impact this sale may have on thousands of American jobs, including the legacy of union jobs across the Pittsburgh region, in the years to come.”
And Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Gov. Josh Shapiro, said the governor would “continue to engage with key stakeholders in pursuit of his top priority: protecting good-paying Pennsylvania jobs in the steel industry, keeping U.S. Steel’s headquarters in Pittsburgh and production in the Mon Valley and Western Pennsylvania, and ensuring the steel industry has a real growth strategy that benefits Pennsylvanians and the commonwealth as a whole.”