cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24259376

He did so by blocking Japan’s Nippon Steel’s proposed $14.9 billion purchase of the once-iconic, now-declining U.S. Steel. The ostensible rationale was “national security.” As Biden put it in a statement Friday morning, “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.” He added, “And it is a fulfillment of that responsibility to block foreign ownership of this vital American company.”

If only. Blocking the deal is just going to hurt the U.S. steel industry, and everyone in the industry, including the workers themselves, knows it. The real reason Biden stopped Nippon Steel from buying U.S. Steel was politics—a combination of placating his union allies and a misguided belief that U.S. Steel must remain in American hands at all costs. The irony is that this economic nationalism and union nostalgia could kill 3,000 union jobs and push U.S. Steel out of Pittsburgh.

During the election, the proposed takeover of U.S. Steel by a Japanese company became a heated issue in Pennsylvania. While Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris cited national security concerns, Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that the tariffs he planned to place on imported steel would revive the industry. The far more likely result, however, is that Pennsylvania steelworkers will soon be out of work, as U.S. Steel had vowed to move to non-union Arkansas if its deal with Nippon Steel were turned down.

“If there’s no company, what good are tariffs?” said Andy Macey, a mechanical repairman at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Works. Macey, 70, was a steelworker in the 1980s when U.S. Steel, unable to compete with cheap foreign imports—much of it from Japan—began shutting down factories. “When I walked out of that steel mill with my coworkers, we had tears in our eyes,” he said, remembering the daily food and unemployment lines. Macey said that a locker buddy committed suicide the night he was laid off. He pushed for the Nippon deal because he didn’t want younger steelworkers to suffer the same fate.

Nippon Steel promised to invest $2.7 billion in U.S. Steel’s aging union facilities, including $1 billion in the Mon Valley. The Japanese even sweetened the pot with a $5,000 bonus for workers if the deal passed.

Local union leaders from two of the three Mon Valley plants supported Nippon, with Jason Zugai, vice president of USW Local 2227, saying that 95 percent of the union members at his Irvin Works support the deal. U.S. Steel’s corporate executives, elected officials, and hundreds of workers rallied to show their support in late November. That same month, Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba warned in a letter to Biden that blocking the deal would “cast a shadow on the achievements you have accumulated over the past four years,” weakening an alliance critical to countering China.

Shortly before Christmas, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is part of the executive branch and includes representatives from a number of cabinet departments, found itself unable to come to a unanimous decision about whether or not the Nippon Steel deal should be stopped. According to the Financial Times, the three most important committee members—the Treasury Department (which leads the committee), the State Department, and the Pentagon—found no security risks. In other words, in kowtowing to a union leader who has been a long-time political ally, Biden ignored the wishes of an important ally, Japan; members of his own cabinet; and the union workers themselves. He is also hurting the country, which would be far better served if Nippon Steel reinvigorated U.S. Steel, something it is uniquely positioned to do.

A final irony: On the same day Biden blocked the Nippon Steel deal on “national security” grounds, the U.S. approved the sale of $3.6 billion worth of air-to-air missiles to Japan.


Archive Link: https://archive.is/Y7EWf


About The Free Press:

The Free Press is a new media company founded by Bari Weiss and built on the ideals that once were the bedrock of great journalism: honesty, doggedness, and fierce independence. We publish investigative stories and provocative commentary about the world as it actually is—with the quality once expected from the legacy press, but the fearlessness of the new.[1]


  1. [1] https://www.thefp.com/about ↩︎

  • Josey_Wales@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    Not disputing any of this, but an article associated with Barry Weiss? Have any other legitimate sources that corroborate any of the opinion points? She doesn’t have the best rep. And that article made broad generalizations and associations.

    For example, the headline implies that this was a position Biden held. However, Trump said he would do the same thing Trump Says He Would Block US Steel Acquisition by Nippon Steel

    This Axios article at least makes the point that while all of the above may happen, it’s so complicated that the proof will be in whether jobs disappear or not.

    The real headline is neither major political party cares about the working class and is pandering to the whims of those who hold power.

    • jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 day ago

      I am not a fan of Zionist Barry Weiss, but I thought the article was informative.

      I posted a Jimmy Dore (some cannot handle his views/commentary, so be warned) critique of Barry Weiss once I saw her association.

      Thanks for the Axios article; it does not mention:

      A final irony: On the same day Biden blocked the Nippon Steel deal on “national security” grounds, the U.S. approved the sale of $3.6 billion worth of air-to-air missiles to Japan.

      Axios:

      President Biden blocked Japan’s Nippon Steel from buying U.S. Steel last week, earning the approval of the United Steelworkers union, which desperately wanted the deal crushed.

      The Free Press:

      The far more likely result, however, is that Pennsylvania steelworkers will soon be out of work, as U.S. Steel had vowed to move to non-union Arkansas if its deal with Nippon Steel were turned down.

      Local union leaders from two of the three Mon Valley plants supported Nippon, with Jason Zugai, vice president of USW Local 2227, saying that 95 percent of the union members at his Irvin Works support the deal. U.S. Steel’s corporate executives, elected officials, and hundreds of workers rallied to show their support in late November.

      In other words, in kowtowing to a union leader who has been a long-time political ally, Biden ignored the wishes of an important ally, Japan; members of his own cabinet; and the union workers themselves. He is also hurting the country, which would be far better served if Nippon Steel reinvigorated U.S. Steel, something it is uniquely positioned to do.

      It reminded me of when Biden helped crush the railroad strike and the union’s opportunity for the workers to get better benefits and time off.

      IMO: a well done video about the Railroad Stike and Biden, https://lemmy.world/post/24263602

      I agree, the duopoly acts like they are for the working class while doing the bidding of the owner class; giving crumbs to the working class does not make them union supporters.