Steel Mills

Republican Senators demand Biden block USS sale to Nippon

May 9, 2024

Three vocal Republican senators are demanding that President Joe Biden block the sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel.

In a May 9 letter, US Senators JD Vance (R-OH), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) call out the president for his soft language on the matter. Biden’s previous “statements amount to wishes, not declarations, and belie your authority as president of the United States,” the senators state.

As the president, Biden could, by law, block the sale under the Defense Production Act or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the senators’ letter points out.

They also bluntly state that President Trump “displayed no such reticence” and, in fact, used his powers to unilaterally block foreign transactions “more than any other president.”

Urging him to courageously “do the right thing,” the senators then charge the president: “Declare whether you will exercise your presidential authority to prohibit or suspend the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon.”

Requests for comment from U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel were not returned by the time of this story’s publication.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. Since 2007, she has held various editorial and marketing positions with steel industry publications, associations, and mills. In 2021, after a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel trade journalism, joining SMU in 2022. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.