Nippon Steel and the Art of Investing in America Again

The U.S. presidential elections are still many months away, but the political winds are impacting policy positions across the board in Washington. The share price of U.S. Steel surged nearly 26 percent following the Japanese company’s announcement in December 2023 that it would purchase the iconic U.S. manufacturer. Not only did Nippon Steel state that it would not change the company’s name and would maintain long-established labor union relations, but it also pledged to pay 40 percent above the U.S. company’s closing share price at $14.9 billion. But given that President Joe Biden is facing a tough election as the United States advances industrial policy to boost domestic manufacturing and enhance national economic competitiveness, it should have come as no surprise that the White House too would voice its concerns about the Nippon Steel deal. The fate of U.S. Steel should be a wake-up call for Capitol Hill as well as the White House to invest in the country’s key industries, and to partner with like-minded countries as a strategy of collective economic security to push back against over-dependence on China.