WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden has voiced his opposition to Nippon Steel buying U.S. Steel, but the federal government appears to be in no hurry to block the deal.
White House officials earlier this month did not deny that the president would formally block the acquisition. But the necessary report from the government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has yet to be submitted to the White House.
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“It’s their process — it’s independent,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday. “We have to see the recommendation from CFIUS. That's the process.”
The proposed takeover carries some heavy political weight in Pennsylvania, a state that both Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump view as a must-win in November’s presidential election. U.S. Steel is headquartered in Pittsburgh.
Biden, Harris and Trump have all come out against the deal. Biden is close with the United Steelworkers, the labor union whose members work for U.S. Steel and worry about the loss of job protections. Supporters of the merger note that U.S. Steel's older mills could be shuttered without the improved corporate balance sheet that a merger could produce.
The Washington Post initially reported on Sept. 4 that the deal would be blocked by the federal government, only to then report on Friday that any ruling on the merger would be delayed.