How a Japanese suitor misread politics with U.S. Steel bid

A month before Nippon Steel discovered its $15 billion takeover of U.S. Steel was on the brink of being torpedoed by President Joe Biden, the Japanese company received a strong hint that things were taking a turn for the worse.

On Aug. 1, officials from the powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) told representatives of Japan's biggest steelmaker and its U.S. target that the committee had identified a potential national security risk, two sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters.

Yet, the Japanese steelmaker hoped it could still win approval for the deal by patiently explaining its business merits, according to Reuters' interviews with two sources with knowledge of the discussions, one company source and a top Nippon Steel executive.