Biden killed US Steel deal even though some US officials rejected national security concerns

President Joe Biden decided to block the $14 billion takeover of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel even though some top US officials did not believe there were sufficient national security grounds to kill the deal, a US official told CNN.

President Joe Biden decided to block the $14 billion takeover of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel even though some top US officials did not believe there were sufficient national security grounds to kill the deal, a US official told CNN. The controversial decision to block the US Steel deal has won praise from union officials but faced fierce criticism inside and outside the administration. US Steel and Nippon Steel alleged in a Monday lawsuit that the process was driven by politics, not national security concerns. Even though the US Steel takeover offer was from a company based in Japan – a major US ally – like all foreign acquisitions, it faced an intense review from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful but secretive interagency panel. However, CFIUS failed to reach a decision about whether the deal posed a national security risk, leaving the decision to the president. Multiple prominent CFIUS members believed that any national security risk could be mitigated and that there were insufficient grounds to block the deal, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the US official said. Yellen chairs CFIUS.