Biden poised to inter­vene in pro­posed takeover of US Steel by Japan­ese rival

14 Mar Biden poised to inter­vene in pro­posed takeover of US Steel by Japan­ese rival

Posted at 02:50h in Financial Times by
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 Overview 
  • Joe Biden plans to inter­vene in Nip­pon Steel’s pro­posed pur­chase of US Steel,
    • a move that could threaten the deal and anger Japan,

 

 Said & Unsaid 
  • Biden will issue a state­ment express­ing ser­i­ous con­cern
    • over the Japan­ese group’s pro­posed $14.9bn acquis­i­tion
      • of the Pennsylvania-headquartered steel­maker
        • before Prime Min­is­ter Fumio Kishida arrives for a state visit in Wash­ing­ton on April 10
  • Biden’s expres­sion of con­cern will be inter­preted as oppos­i­tion to the takeover
    • and marks the cul­min­a­tion of months of White House debate
      • on how to respond to a deal that has sparked a bipar­tisan back­lash in Wash­ing­ton
        • against the sale of a US man­u­fac­tur­ing icon to a for­eign group.
  • Although US law gives the admin­is­tra­tion the power to block
    • cer­tain for­eign acquis­i­tions on national secur­ity grounds,
      • Biden will not say out­right that the deal should be blocked,

 

 Political Concern 
  • Pennsylvania is a cru­cial elect­oral swing state in this year’s pres­id­en­tial elec­tion
    • between Biden and Don­ald Trump

 

 Context 
  • Nip­pon Steel announced the con­tro­ver­sial acquis­i­tion in Decem­ber,
    • lead­ing Biden to pick a side between
      • a power­ful union and its voters,
      • and a vital Amer­ican ally.
  • The tim­ing of Biden’s state­ment is sig­ni­fic­ant because last week
    • Nip­pon Steel filed its pro­posal with the Com­mit­tee on For­eign Invest­ment in the US,
      • which vets inbound invest­ments for national secur­ity risks

 

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