On December 12th, according to media reports, there are internal disagreements within the Biden administration regarding Japan's Steel acquisition of United States Steel. The Department of State, Department of Treasury, and Department of Defense all believe that this transaction does not pose a National Security risk, but President Biden is expected to block the transaction.

In December last year, Japan's Steel company announced plans to acquire United States Steel for $14.9 billion. This transaction faced strong opposition domestically in the USA and was subjected to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (Cfius).

Cfius is an interdepartmental government group led by the Department of Treasury, primarily responsible for reviewing whether foreign investments in the USA constitute a National Security risk.

As early as March of this year, Biden publicly opposed Japan's Steel acquisition of United States Steel, stating that United States Steel must remain a company owned and operated domestically in the USA.

President-elect Trump has also stated that he would immediately block the transaction once he takes office in January.

In September of this year, Cfius preliminarily determined that the transaction poses an unacceptable National Security risk, but it did not formally submit the investigation results to Biden. Biden then extended the review period by 90 days, with a deadline of December 23rd.

According to sources, the Department of State, Secretary of Treasury, and Department of Defense have not yet issued a final opinion, and some officials believe that the transaction does not pose a National Security risk, while Biden's opposition is politically motivated. It is reported that the United States Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, opposes this transaction, and the Department of Commerce and Department of Energy also have concerns about it.

Sources reveal that regardless of the final review results from Cfius, Biden will almost certainly block this Trade, but if Cfius determines there is no risk in the Trade, Biden will have to find other mechanisms to block it.

Some analysts believe that the reason Biden previously considered blocking the United States Steel acquisition was to garner more votes from blue-collar workers. However, despite the Democrats ultimately losing the election, Biden still maintains his original position.

Some observers say that one reason Biden is unlikely to change his stance is that he knows Trump would block the Trade, and even if he approved it, it would be overturned by the latter. However, there are also views that Trump might attempt to negotiate a better outcome for union workers and take credit for it.

Editor/lambor