Nippon's US Steel deal needs scrutiny, says Biden campaign adviser Deese
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Brian Deese, a key player in President Joe Biden's 2024 re-election bid, said on Wednesday that Nippon Steel's proposed purchase of U.S. Steel was concerning and that the administration should look closely at it.
Several Democratic and Republican U.S. senators have criticized the deal this week, citing national security concerns or raising questions about why the two companies did not consult U.S. Steel's main union ahead of the announcement.
Deese ran the White House's National Economic Council for the first two years of Biden's presidency and helped set the administration's economic priorities.
«It is concerning and the announcement raises a set of issues that the administration should and likely will look closely at,» Deese said during a call hosted by Biden's re-election campaign. «The particulars of this announcement do raise real, legitimate concerns that do need to be looked closely at.»
Nippon said on Monday it would buy Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion in cash, prevailing over rivals such as Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF), ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) and Nucor (NYSE:NUE) in an auction for the 122-year-old steelmaker.
The White House has been tight-lipped about the deal, saying only that there could be a regulatory review, in a reference to a likely review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and possibly antitrust authorities.
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, on Wednesday urged Biden in a letter to explore «all options» to scrutinize the Nippon-U.S. Steel deal.
Brown said the Democratic president should require «an evaluation of potentially applicable antitrust authorities and a CFIUS review to
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