CLAIRTON, Pa. — The sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel in Japan might come down to whether or not a committee on foreign investment deems it a national security concern. One local councilman believes that reason is “nonsense.”
Allegheny County Councilman Dan Grzybek supports the $15 billion sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, saying it would benefit the whole region.
“Nippon has already promised to put even more money into the Mon Valley, and I think it would be good for the longevity of the area,” Grzybek told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek.
But, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, is reviewing the bid of the potential sale to see if there are national security concerns.
Their recommendation is expected in the next 10 days.
“That idea that this would be an imposition on national security, it really doesn’t pass muster,” Grzybek said. “Saying that we’re worried about them controlling U.S. Steel here where we would still be producing steel here in the United States, and we would have the ability, if need be, to compel them to continue to produce in a wartime environment, especially whenever we are mostly producing automotive and things like washers and dryers with the steel here in the Mon Valley, it just doesn’t fully hold up.”
Both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump have expressed the desire to block the sale. So has the United Steel Workers Union.
USW is urging President Biden to block the sale before the end of his term.
On Tuesday, union leadership sent a letter to its members saying Nippon was resorting to bribery to get the deal across the finish line.
Nippon announced it would give $5,000 to employees other than senior leadership if the deal is finalized.
A statement from USW reads:
“Nippon Steel today employed a classic union-busting tactic in a final, desperate attempt to win over support for its doomed acquisition of U.S. Steel: simple bribery.
We have seen this sort of corporate behavior before, and we know what it really means. Nippon is begging union members to trade our long-term stability and bargaining power in exchange for a single payment.
But we won’t be fooled.
This offer ultimately does nothing to change the stakes of the deal, the lasting damage it could do to our domestic steel industry or the grave implications for our national and economic security.
Our union’s concern with the proposed U.S. Steel-Nippon deal is how badly it would undermine the viability of the domestic steel industry, not just now but well into the future.
President Biden understands the stakes, and he promised to have workers’ backs. Now, it’s time for him to formally block the deal so we can start working on securing our industry for the long-term.
Nippon proved it will stop at nothing. It’s thrown everything it has at advancing this transaction, demonstrating increasing levels of desperation. We should be asking why. Is it to eliminate a U.S. competitor? To subvert our trade system from within? To shift the nature of the global steel market?
We need to keep asking these questions. We need to keep holding Nippon accountable for the damage it’s already done through its unfair trade practices. And we need to see this offer for what it is: an empty gesture meant to distract us from the threat this transaction poses to our jobs, our industry and our national security.”
Grzybek agreed but thinks there’s still a way forward.
“I don’t know how you characterize that as anything but a bribe,” he said. “I think that Nippon should really focus more on the merits of this sale and the longevity of the Mon Valley, and make some of those promises they’ve given verbally a little bit more concrete so the union can fully come on board.”
U.S. Steel is holding a rally at its Clairton plant Thursday at 3 p.m. in support of the sale.
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