Japanese Company Asks Biden to Allow Merger with U.S. Steel

Nippon Steel made its final overture to the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden to allow its purchase of U.S. Steel. Some union workers broke with their leadership to endorse the deal.

The Details: Nippon Steel sent the White House a new proposal for the long-stalled merger on Monday. Washington Post (Lean Left bias) reported the proposal would grant the U.S. government a veto over any decision to lower “production capacity,” which the Post said was to assuage national security concerns raised by a federal interagency committee. Meanwhile, United Steelworkers president David McCall accused U.S. Steel of forcing workers to participate in a letter-writing campaign in support of the merger. The company denied the accusation, claiming local union leaders had originated the campaign and that participation was voluntary and not tracked.

For Context: The merger will go through unless Biden, who has said he opposes it, takes action to block it by January 7th. President-elect Donald Trump has also said he would block the merger in his next term, most recently in early December.

How the Media Covered It: Daily Wire (Right bias) cast the potential blocking of the merger as a win for China, but only mentioned Biden's opposition to the merger, not Trump's. WaPo noted that many of Biden's advisors disagree with him and support the merger. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Center bias) went into more detail on the divide between United Steelworkers leadership and pro-merger union members.