Biden's decision to block Nippon Steel takeover creates uncertainty for U.S. Steel workers
The IndependentThe latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In making its nearly $15 billion bid for the storied Pittsburgh-based steelmaker, Nippon Steel had promised to invest $2.7 billion in U.S. Steel’s aging blast furnace operations in Gary, Indiana, and Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley. “They were going to invest in the Valley,’’ said Jason Zugai, an operating technician and vice president of the United Steelworkers union local at a U.S. Steel plant in the Mon Valley. !” In a joint statement, Nippon and U.S. Steel called Biden’s decision “a clear violation of due process and the law’’ and suggested they would sue to salvage their deal: “We are left with no choice but to take all appropriate action to protect our legal rights.’’ U.S. Steel was founded in 1901 in a merger that involved American business titans J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie and instantly created the largest company in the world. Josh Shapiro warned U.S. Steel management against “threatening the jobs and livelihoods of the Pennsylvanians who work at the Mon Valley Works and at U.S. Steel HQ and their families.’’ Shapiro also said companies that put in bids to buy U.S. Steel in the future must make the same commitments to “capital investment and protecting and growing Pennsylvania jobs that Nippon Steel placed on the table.’’ ___ Marc Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.