Mitch McConnell blasts Biden decision to block U.S. Steel-Nippon deal

By blocking the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, President Joe Biden sold out American industry, workers and national security to “Big Labor,” writes U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday.

McConnell’s piece, titled “Nippon Steel Isn’t the Enemy,” criticizes Biden’s decision to block the acquisition, saying the move leaves America’s core economic and national-security interests less secure than when Biden entered office four years ago.

“Despite touting ‘friend-shoring’ as a pillar of his approach to trade and economic competition, Mr. Biden rejected a deal with an even more appealing outcome: on-shore American jobs, a multibillion-dollar investment in modernizing U.S. Steel’s facilities and a chance to make steel production in America more competitive with China,” the piece reads.

The Japanese company sought to acquire the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker for nearly $15 billion.

Biden earlier this month cited national security concerns in his decision to block the deal, despite pledges from Nippon to keep the company’s Downtown Pittsburgh headquarters and allow U.S. government approval of its staffing levels. Biden’s order directed the companies to abandon the transaction.

U.S. Steel and Nippon say Biden’s decision was politically motivated and there is no evidence of a national security issue. They since filed federal lawsuits against the Biden administration, and one against Cleveland-Cliffs, its CEO, Lourenco Goncalves and David McCall, the head of the steelworkers union, accusing them of “engaging in a coordinated series of anticompetitive and racketeering activities” to block the deal.

McConnell wrote that the Biden administration’s decision may cause American workers to wonder what’s wrong with foreign companies — even those of its close allies and partners — pouring money into the U.S. economy and creating jobs. He cited a Nippon-owned facility where hundreds of employees build automotive parts in Georgetown, Ky.

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Nearby that plant is another Japanese firm, Toyota, employing nearly 10,000 people full-time at the company’s largest vehicle-manufacturing plant in the world, McConnell wrote. Toyota recently announced more than $2 billion in new investments at that site.

“Japan likely wonders why the Biden administration considers a major investment in American jobs and manufacturing a national-security risk but not its purchase of cutting-edge American military technologies,” McConnell wrote. “Just last week, the State Department approved the sale of $3.64 billion in air-to-air missiles to further strengthen this crucial U.S. ally.”

Biden is union bosses’ closest White House ally in generations, McConnell wrote.

“By exploiting the president’s worst impulses, protectionists have won a rare and potentially disastrous victory,” he wrote. “Anyone seriously concerned about strengthening the alliances needed to outcompete predatory Chinese trade practices must hope the blockage is short-lived.”

McConnell wrote the Biden administration “chose the short-term whims of Big Labor over the long-term interests of American industry, workers and geopolitics.” McConnell called on President-elect Donald Trump to “call this blunder what it is and do the opposite.”

“(Trump’s) administration should work with Indo-Pacific allies and encourage investment in America,” McConnell wrote. “The challenges posed by major adversaries are too great for the U.S. to go it alone.”