Breaking: Joe Biden Blocks Nippon Steel’s Purchase of U.S. Steel

President Joe Biden blocked Japanese company Nippon Steel’s attempt to purchase iconic American steel producer U.S. Steel after months of scrutiny and bipartisan opposition to the $14 billion acquisition.

Biden issued an order Friday barring Nippon Steel’s purchase for national security reasons, a significant economic intervention by a lame-duck president that could have wide-ranging implications for foreign investors moving forward.

“It is my solemn responsibility as President to ensure that, now and long into the future, America has a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry that can continue to power our national sources of strength at home and abroad,” Biden said in a statement.

“U.S. Steel will remain a proud American company – one that's American-owned, American-operated, by American union steelworkers – the best in the world.”

National Review has reached out to the companies for comment.

Japan is a longtime American ally and trade partner that poses little threat to American national security and economic interests. Nonetheless, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multi-agency panel, was tasked with reviewing the national-security implications of the proposed transaction.

The committee did not make a recommendation on whether the proposed purchased should be allowed to go through. But, the panel did voice concerns about the takeover’s national-security implications, which Biden referenced in his statement.

“We need major U.S. companies representing the major share of US steelmaking capacity to keep leading the fight on behalf of America's national interests,” Biden said.

“As a committee of national security and trade experts across the executive branch determined, 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.”

Biden’s order invokes the Defense Production Act of 1950, a law passed to mobilize the U.S. at the start of the Korean War during the Cold War period that Biden has used periodically for economic policy measures. Former and future President Trump also used the Defense Production Act when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020 to increase production of essential healthcare equipment.

The Nippon Steel deal faced political opposition from Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the United Steelworkers Union, a powerful labor union that endorsed Harris’s presidential campaign after previously backing Biden.

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance also came out against the agreement, a demonstration of the bipartisan populist opposition to Nippon Steel’s purchase.

The political opposition to Nippon Steel’s acquisition came during an election year when blue-collar rust belt voters were vital to determining which party would emerge victorious in several key states. Trump defeated Harris convincingly in November and took home the rust-belt swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Seeking to tame the opposition, Nippon Steel regularly touted its proposed billion-dollar investment in American steel manufacturing and promised to create thousands of new rust belt jobs with the influx of capital. The company also promised that U.S. Steel would retain its Pittsburgh, Pa. headquarters and famous branding, while being overseen by American executives.

Proponents of the Nippon Steel acquisition included former vice president Mike Pence, former senator Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) and other political and business leaders on the national and local level. The deal’s backers argued the premium purchase would benefit American workers because of Nippon Steel’s substantial capital. They also claimed the acquisition would weaken China’s efforts to flood global markets with cheap steel.

Populist critics of the proposed purchase were worried about potential job losses for American workers and foreign ownership of a longtime American company in a crucial industry.