U.S. Steel sues Biden administration, union boss after president blocks acquisition deal
U.S. Steel and the Japanese firm that had sought to acquire it are suing the Biden administration after the president announced he was blocking a proposed deal for the iconic American manufacturer.
U.S. Steel and the Japanese firm that had sought to acquire it are suing the Biden administration after the president announced he was blocking a proposed deal for the iconic American manufacturer.
U.S. Steel and Japan's Nippon Steel said in a release Monday that President Joe Biden "ignored the rule of law" in order to gain favor with United Steelworkers, the union representing many of U.S. Steel's employees, when he announced Friday he would not allow the acquisition to go through.
Separately, U.S. Steel and Nippon said they were also suing the president of the union, David McCall; as well as the head of an Ohio-based rival mining firm, Cleveland-Cliffs, accusing them of illegally coordinating to undermine the transaction.
Nippon Steel had proposed a $14 billion deal to buy U.S. Steel, but the agreement, which U.S. Steel executives favored, became mired in a national security review by a Treasury Department committee that assesses foreign ownership proposals.
Ultimately, that committee failed to agree on whether Nippon ownership posed a security risk., and asked Biden for a final decision. In announcing his veto of the deal, Biden said shifting the firm out of American hands would undermine critical supply chains and put jobs at risk.
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