US Steel Sale to Nippon Blocked by Biden. What Happens Next?
BloombergUS President Joe Biden ’s decision to block Nippon Steel Corp.’s $14.1 billion takeover of United States Steel Corp. has sparked fresh uncertainty for the American icon that’s been at the heart of a domestic political firestorm in the US and fueled tensions with long-time diplomatic ally Japan. Biden announced his formal decision on Friday after the case was referred to him by a US security review panel and US Steel shares fell in response, trading well below Nippon Steel’s $55 per share offer for the firm, which traces its roots back to 1901 when J. Pierpont Morgan merged a collection of assets with Andrew Carnegie’s Carnegie Steel Co. There are a number of avenues the company might now go down to secure its future as Donald Trump prepares to take the reins of the US government from Biden. US statute makes it clear that American presidents are granted the power to kill a deal they deem a threat to national security, and the codification of that law means it is unlikely to be an attractive case for the Supreme Court, were appeals to reach that level.