Harris, Trump oppose Nippon Steel’s bid for US Steel but could Americans benefit?

The Japanese steelmaker’s US$15 billion bid for its American rival has become a hot-button issue in the US election race

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Nippon Steel signage at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:30am, 4 Sep 2024Updated: 12:27pm, 4 Sep 2024

Nippon Steel’s US$15 billion bid to acquire US Steel has become a contentious issue in the US presidential election, with Democrats and Republicans both framing the deal as a threat to American jobs despite analysts saying the offer might benefit the local industry over the long term.

Michael Cucek, a professor of international relations at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, said the issue has been initially politicised by Republican presidential candidate and ex-US president Donald Trump. Even Vice-President Kamala Harris had to show support for US Steel and its workers, although she favoured free and open markets, Cucek added.

“But Trump, in his inimitable way, stirred the pot, and she had no choice [but to respond],” Cucek told This Week in Asia.

Harris, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, told voters in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania on Monday that she was in favour of the 122-year-old US Steel remaining domestically owned.

Appearing alongside President Joe Biden in Pittsburgh – an industrial city where union members would be key for any presidential candidate seeking to win the race for the White House – to mark the Labour Day national holiday, Harris called US Steel “a historic American company”.

She said: “It is vital for our country to maintain strong American steel companies. US Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated, and I will always have the backs of American steelworkers.”