Cleveland-Cliffs Supports Decision to Block US Steel Takeover – Butler Eagle

Cleveland-Cliffs, one of North America’s leading steel producers, said in a press release on Thursday, September 5, that it supports President Joe Biden’s decision to block a multibillion-dollar deal that would allow Japanese company Nippon Steel to acquire US Steel.

Although the company is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and employs 28,000 people, it has local ties to the Butler Works facility in Lyndor.

Cleveland-Cliffs explained its decision in a press release sent out Thursday afternoon.

“We applaud President Biden and the U.S. government for their announcement of their decision to block foreign ownership of U.S. Steel by Japanese company Nippon Steel,” Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. “The U.S. steel industry plays a critical role in protecting our national security. President Biden’s bold move confirms our view that our industry is best served by American companies that are committed to the long-term success of domestic manufacturing, supported by good-paying union jobs, under American ownership.”

The proposed $14.9 billion deal between Nippon Steel and US Steel was first agreed in December last year.

US Steel executives warn that failure of the deal could put thousands of union jobs at risk.

Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel is valued at about $7 billion and employs about 20,000 people.

In a statement earlier this year, Biden suggested the deal could be blocked.

“US Steel has been an iconic American company for over a century and should remain a wholly American company,” Biden said in April. “American-owned, American-run, American-owned, American-owned, unionized, the best in the world. And it will be. I promise you.”