Biden Blocks Nippon Steel's Acquisition of U.S. Steel on National Security Grounds, Orders Deal Abandoned Within 30 Days
On January 3, 2025, at the White House in Washington, D.C., President Joe Biden signed an order formally prohibiting Japan's Nippon Steel Corporation from acquiring United States Steel Corporation (U.S. Steel), finding that the transaction might impair the national security of the United States.
The order was issued under section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950. Biden found credible evidence that Nippon Steel and its subsidiaries, through the acquisition, might take action that threatens to impair U.S. national security, and that laws other than section 721 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act do not provide adequate authority to protect national security in the matter. The order also prohibits any substantially similar transaction, requires the purchasers and U.S. Steel to take all steps necessary to fully and permanently abandon the deal no later than 30 days after the order (a date the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, CFIUS, may extend), requires weekly written compliance certifications to CFIUS in the interim, and authorizes the Attorney General to enforce it.
In a statement the same day, Biden said: "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." A strong domestically owned and operated steel industry, he said, is an essential national security priority: "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."
Nippon Steel had announced in December 2023 that it would acquire Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel for about $14.1 billion in cash. The deal then underwent a CFIUS national security review; the committee could not reach consensus on the risks and referred the decision to the President in December 2024, leaving Biden 15 days to decide. The United Steelworkers union had consistently opposed the deal, and President-elect Donald Trump had also publicly opposed it.
The two companies said they were dismayed by the decision and would take all appropriate action to protect their legal rights. With the transaction blocked, the future of U.S. Steel was left an open question.
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国钢铁旗下 Edgar Thomson 钢铁厂（宾夕法尼亚州 Braddock，2018年摄）。（Myrichiehaynes 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons） / Photo: U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson Steel Works in Braddock, Pennsylvania, in 2018. (Myrichiehaynes, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
