The Japanese company trying to purchase the United States Steel Corporation has manufacturing bases in China. The revelation raises more national security concerns as President Joe Biden has yet to commit to blocking the acquisition.
As Breitbart News reported, executives with U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel Corporation announced the nearly $15 billion deal, which would have the iconic American steel giant sold off to the Japanese company.
The deal is significant as U.S. Steel, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, played a critical role in the nation’s “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II, which ultimately saw the Allied powers defeat the Axis, which included Imperial Japan.
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A letter sent to Biden officials from Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) notes that Nippon “has facilities in the People’s Republic of China, a foreign adversary of the U.S.”
Indeed, Nippon lists multiple “manufacturing bases” in China on its site, including in the cities of Suzhou and Wuhan. Elsewhere in Asia, Nippon has plants in Brunei, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Biden economic adviser Lael Brainard said U.S. Steel’s sale to Nippon deserves “serious scrutiny” from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen chairs.
“This looks like the type of transaction that the interagency committee on foreign investment Congress empowered and the Biden administration strengthened is set up to carefully investigate,” Brainard said. “This administration will be ready to look carefully at the findings of any such investigation and to act if appropriate.”
The United Steelworkers (USW) are lobbying lawmakers and the Biden administration to block the deal, saying they were not considered in negotiations and that foreign ownership of U.S. Steel puts their union workers’ contracts in peril.
“U.S. Steel has made it clear, time and again, that its first and only priority is short-term financial gain for shareholders, even if this comes at the expense of workers, their communities, and the nation’s lasting capacity to continue meeting its manufacturing needs,” USW President David McCall said.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.
