Nippon Steel, US Steel Sue US Government
Japanese group confirms desire to acquire US company
Joe Biden has blocked the acquisition of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, which, however, is not giving up and is willing to stand up for itself.
The outgoing US president attributed the blocking of the talks to general considerations of “national security.” Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba responded by asking Washington to clarify the issue: “They should be able to clearly explain why there is a national security problem.”
On January 6, Nippon Steel and US Steel, which were about to finalize a $14 billion deal that would create the world’s third-largest steel production center, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government. According to both companies’ explanations, Biden violated the U.S. Constitution by influencing the decision of the Committee on Foreign Investment.
The Japanese company’s CEO Eiji Hashimoto explained that he believes the choice is purely political, and Nippon Steel will try to overturn it in court. “The review of the agreement by the Commission on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) was not conducted correctly because of President Biden’s illegal interference, we cannot accept it,” these are the words of Hashimoto reported by the Italian news agency ANSA.
