Leaders in both parties have been more restrained than some rank-and-file lawmakers — a sign of the countervailing economic and political dynamics at play.
Nippon Steel’s $14.1 billion cash offer is
nearly double what fellow American steelmaker Cleveland Cliffs offered to pay for U.S. Steel in a merger bid in August.
Industry analysts are skeptical, however, that the company’s sale will be ruled a genuine national security threat. The Defense Department’s top concern from a national security perspective is making sure there is adequate steel production in the United States for its military needs, which previous estimates have put at about
three percent of domestic production, Jeff Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said.
Trump has seized on other examples of foreign companies taking advantage of U.S. manufacturing incentives under Biden. But he has been uncharacteristically quiet on the U.S. Steel sale. His campaign did not return multiple requests for comment
Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), J.D. Vance (Ohio) and Josh Hawley (Mo.)
wrote in a letter to Yellen sent Tuesday. “Allowing foreign companies to buy out American companies and enjoy our trade protections subverts the very purpose for which those protections were put in place.” [Are they there to protect the American worker, or an American corporate structure?]
Former Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, however, told Fox Business News earlier this week there was no reason other than “xenophobia” to reject the sale. He also derided national security concerns expressed by lawmakers as “silly” and said opponents of the sale were “just people in swing states pandering to the union.”
[I feel dirty, a Trump Cabinet member essentially holds the same opinion I do.]
thehill.com
