Biden administration sued

Both US Steel and Nippon Steel, Japan, sued the Biden administration on January 6 after it blocked the merger.

In a lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the two companies allege that political considerations during the election season undermined the U.S. government's formal review of the merger, according to ABC News.

The two companies said President Biden's order "is the culmination of a months-long campaign to exploit the US national security apparatus, with the aim of keeping promises that Mr. Biden and his advisers made to the leadership of the United States Steelworkers (USW) union."

US President Joe Biden at a press conference on January 1

Earlier, on January 3, President Biden announced that he had blocked the sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel for $14.9 billion, citing that US Steel is one of the leading steelmakers in the US and that being under foreign control poses a risk to national security, Reuters reported.

US Steel and Nippon Steel claim that Mr. Biden blocked the merger plan to attract support from USW members in the 2024 US presidential election. The USW has about 1.2 million members, with a large number of workers concentrated in the election-season battleground state of Pennsylvania.

The two steel companies also filed another lawsuit in the Western District Court of Pennsylvania, accusing the US steel company Cleveland-Cliffs of violating antitrust laws by creating an agreement with USW to prevent the Japanese company from acquiring it, thereby seeking to merge with US Steel.

Outside the Nippon Steel headquarters in Tokyo, Japan

In a statement on January 6, USW President David McCall pledged to support the Biden administration’s decision to block the merger and to fight the charges against the union. Cleveland-Cliffs representatives have not yet commented on the case.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chinh-quyen-ong-biden-bi-kien-185250106233859155.htm