Top economic aides for U.S. President Joe Biden said he aims to preserve union jobs and domestic manufacturing in the U.S. steel sector, a signal Nippon Steel may have to bolster its accommodation of organized labor to seal its takeover of United States Steel.
The $14.1 billion deal to create the world’s second-largest steel company will be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, a process shrouded in secrecy. The remarks Friday were not explicitly about Nippon Steel’s case, but came in response to questions about it and publicly hint at the administration’s priorities and the potential scope of a review that has ramifications for Biden’s re-election bid.
The companies have promised to honor agreements in place with the United Steelworkers union. But the labor group has raised objections, and some Biden political allies — including both senators in Pennsylvania, the home of U.S. Steel and a key 2024 battleground — want the president to kill the deal to protect jobs.