US Steel boss accuses Biden of corruption

David Burritt’s remark came in response to the outgoing US president blocking the purchase of the steelmaker by Japan’s Nippon Steel

The CEO of US Steel Corporation, David Burritt, has accused outgoing US President Joe Biden of undermining the country’s economic standing through a “politically corrupt” decision to block the planned acquisition of the steelmaker by Japan’s Nippon Steel.

The planned takeover, which was agreed to back in December 2023, would have entailed the Japanese company shelling out around $14.1 billion and assuming around $800 million in debt.

In a statement on Friday, Burritt charged that “President Biden’s action today is shameful and corrupt.” The US Steel CEO claimed that the White House’s spurning of the Japanese company’s overtures had insulted a “vital economic and national security ally” and “put American competitiveness at risk.” According to Burritt, the fact that the merger has fallen through plays into the hands of Chinese steel giants.

“Biden did it all while refusing to even meet with us to learn the facts,” the US Steel boss fumed, insisting that his company intends to “fight President Biden’s political corruption.”

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In a separate joint statement also on Friday, the US Steel Corporation and Nippon Steel Corporation argued that the US president’s move represents a “clear violation of due process and the law governing” the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

“The process was manipulated to advance President Biden’s political agenda,” the two companies wrote. They further alleged that the White House had failed to “present any credible evidence of a national security issue, making clear that this was a political decision.”

Both Nippon Steel and US Steel believe the merger would have revitalized the American steelmaking industry and helped it compete more effectively against Chinese rivals.

Earlier in the day, the White House published Biden’s order, in which he wrote that “there is credible evidence that leads me to believe that (1) Nippon Steel Corporation… through the proposed acquisition by the Purchasers of United States Steel Corporation… might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”

The outgoing president stipulated that the proposed transaction “is prohibited, and any substantially similar transaction between the Purchasers and U.S. Steel… is also prohibited.”

When the merger was originally agreed to in December 2023, it drew criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.