The United Steelworkers union informed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that it remains categorically opposed to Nippon Steel’s $15 billion bid for U.S. Steel or any deal that would give Nippon influence over the company.
USW President David McCall told Bessent in a letter sent late yesterday that the union does not believe any mitigating measures offered during the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ preliminary review of the deal addressed its deep economic and security concerns. “We remain categorically opposed to Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel,” McCall said.
McColl added that the union’s concerns have intensified since former President Joe Biden blocked the deal in January, noting that Nippon has continued practices that have fueled excess capacity in global markets, including through the 1 million tons of production capacity it maintains in China through joint ventures.
He explained that the US Department of Commerce this month imposed a preliminary 205 percent tariff on Nippon Steel in a previous administrative review of non-directional electrical steel from Japan.
McCall reported that Nippon Steel also appeared willing to divest from some US Steel assets and had not committed in various meetings to maintaining production at its plants in Mon Valley, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.
