President Joe Biden formally blocked a proposed $14.9 billion takeover of U.S. Steel by a Japanese company, the White House announced Friday.
“It is my solemn responsibility as President to ensure that, now and long into the future, America has a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry that can continue to power our national sources of strength at home and abroad; and it is a fulfillment of that responsibility to block foreign ownership of this vital American company,” Biden said in a statement announcing the move.
Biden has long opposed the sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel, and the choice to block the deal rested solely in his hands after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States did not reach a conclusion in its report last week.
In a statement on Wednesday, the United Steelworkers called the proposed deal “bad for workers and national security.” Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
