Pa.'s Fetterman wants to block U.S. Steel sale to Japanese firm; Casey calls it 'bad deal'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: PA Patriot-News/Penn Live

Updated: Dec. 18, 2023, 10:11 p.m.| Published: Dec. 18, 2023, 6:17 p.m.


U.S. Sen. John Fetterman on Monday vowed to block the sale of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel to a Japanese company, while Sen. Bob Casey called the agreement “a bad deal for Pennsylvania and for Pennsylvania workers.”

The venerable steel company — founded by financier J.P. Morgan and industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie in 1901 — announced that it had agreed to be acquired by Nippon Steel for $14 billion.

That sale price would be nearly double what U.S. Steel’s rival Cleveland Cliffs offered four months ago in a bid that was rejected, the Associated Press reported. Under the deal, U.S. Steel would keep its name and headquarters in Pittsburgh and become a subsidiary of Nippon, said the AP.

Fetterman, who lives across from U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thompson plant in Braddock, Allegheny County, blasted the deal, saying that it was “absolutely outrageous” that U.S. Steel would sell to a foreign company in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter. The video shows Fetterman on the roof of his Braddock home with U.S. Steel’s Thompson plant in the background.

Read more: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2023/12/fetterman-calls-sale-of-us-steel-to-japanese-company-outrageous-casey-says-owners-should-be-american.html

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Link to tweet

X TEXT

Senator John Fetterman
@SenFettermanPA
·
Follow
The acquisition of @U_S_Steel by a foreign company is wrong for workers and wrong for Pennsylvania. I’m gonna do everything I can to block it.
2:01 PM · Dec 18, 2023

YouTube of his X video -

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

1. Nippon Steel agreed to keep all collective bargaining agreements in place and to keep the USS HQ in Pittsburgh.

Nothing would change for the workers at US Steel.

I'd expect with Nippon Steel being a Japanese company, they'd put money into the US Steel plants and get some actual modern stuff in there. US Steel has some ancient technology in their plants, they're totally behind the curve when it comes to the current state of the steel industry.

From where I'm sitting, it's either this or watch US Steel go the way of Bethlehem Steel and all the others who have shut down over the past 50 years.

[Novara]

2. "Nothing will change." For how long?

I've worked for companies that were bought out. Nothing changes at first, then eventually everything changes. It always does. So what's important is how long do they promise that "nothing will change"?

[Rebl2]

41. Exactly

[doc03]

7. I worked for a steel company taken over by a Russian oligarch that promised the

same, the union contract didn't last for long and the company no longer exists. Do any of the Japanese auto companies have a union?

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

12. UAW is unionizing several Toyota and Honda plants as we speak.

And when Toyota took over the GM plant in Fremont, CA and made it into NUMMI, they kept the union until the end when they sold the plant to Tesla.

[doc03]

13. I don't know, could it be they sold the Fremont factory because of the Union contract? By the way

I still have a 2006 Toyota Tacoma that was made in Fremont. I have had it longer than any vehicle I ever owned
18 years now still runs and looks good.

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

14. They sold it because it was too far from their supply chains that are centered around the midwest

and also because of the mess that was the great recession.

[lonely bird]

3. Iirc, Cleveland Cliffs tried to make an offer to buy USX

It seems there was a bit of a bidding war and Nippon is coming out on top.

[former9thward]

18. Cleveland Cliffs is also a foreign company.

For some reason no outrage there.

[lonely bird]

20. Link shows ownership of Cleveland Cliffs

Arcelor Mittal owns just under 8%. Not foreign ownership so far as I can tell.

https://www.wallstreetzen.com/stocks/us/nyse/clf/ownership#:~:text=Stock%20Ownership%20FAQ-,Who%20owns%20Cleveland%20Cliffs%3F,representing%207.56%25%20of%20the%20company.

[former9thward]

23. The CEO of Clevelalnd Cliffs is a Brazilian.

‘I Want Everything.’ The Pugnacious, Arm-Twisting CEO
Lourenco Goncalves used an iron ore company to become one of the US’s largest steelmakers; now he’s trying to buy U.S. Steel.

Veteran Brazilian steel executive Lourenco Goncalves has a booming voice. He’s used it to demand customers buy more steel and to dress down analysts who’ve dared to critique his company’s performance. In the past three years, he’s shouted his way to the top of the U.S. steel industry.

Goncalves, 65, is on the precipice of the boldest move of his career: acquiring 122-year-old United States Steel. If he prevails, the deal would reshape the U.S. steel industry, making Cleveland-Cliffs CLF 3.17%increase; green up pointing triangle—an iron ore mining company just a few years ago—the largest domestic steelmaker by volume and the 10th largest in the world.

Buying up Cleveland-Cliffs’ customers brought stability for the company’s ore business and put Goncalves in charge of a steelmaking company. Cleveland-Cliffs snapped up Ohio-based AK Steel, the smallest and weakest of the major U.S. steel producers, at a bargain in 2020 and later that year, the company bought most of steel giant ArcelorMittal’s U.S. mills. The deals turned Cleveland-Cliffs into the second-largest steel company in the country and the largest supplier to the U.S. automobile industry.

https://www.wsj.com/business/i-want-everything-the-pugnacious-arm-twisting-ceo-265744be

[lonely bird]

28. Well, that obviously means foreign ownership

The ownership of shares is laid out in the link.

If you can show that he owns controlling interest then please do.

The CEO owns less than 2%.

[mathematic]

37. Oh come on. Cleveland Cliffs is not a foreign company & Goncalves has lived in the US for decades

I think the fearmongering about a Japanese firm buying US Steel is ridiculous. Japan is not Russia, or even Turkey (a NATO ally). Treating a Japanese firm as a security risk is absurd. But none of that has anything to do with Cleveland Cliffs and their status as an American company.

Cliffs has been an American company longer than US Steel. The steelmaking portion of the company is relatively new, as AK Steel and the US assets of Arcelor Mittal (which were the mills from long bankrupt US firms like Bethlehem Steel) were acquired a few years ago but the company itself has been operating since the middle of the 1800s.

[former9thward]

39. The Steelmaking part of Cleveland Cliffs is by far the majority of its income.

They are now in the category of a steelmaker not a mining company.

You may dismiss Japan, but I don't. I remember when Japan dumped state subsidized cheap steel onto the U.S. market starting in the 60s but escalating in the 1970s. They did this to kill off the American mills and it worked.

[CincyDem]

4. Can we take a 30 second break here and ask...

…what other Senator has that view out their front door? He’s the boss, for sure.

Hell, his opponent was so embarrassed by PA that he filmed his campaign commercials at his NJ home. lol

This guy is so PA, in a good way. And I’m from Ohio so you know it’s a tough compliment to give.

So to even it out: Go Bengals (vs the Steelers Saturday)!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

6. "Go Bengals (vs the Steelers Saturday)!!!"

[live love laugh]

16. Surprisingly Republican JD Vance is also opposing the sale.

[lonely bird]

21. JD is playing for the MAGAt base by hyping anti-Asian crap

As well as being an ass remora for Trump hoping he can be VP.

Fetterman’s position is not based, imo, on anti-Asian racism.

[Bludogdem]

26. Vance is from

Middletown, Ohio formerly a very strong steel town. It was in classic rustbelt demise while he was growing up. His grandfather was a Journeyman Rigger/Electrician at the “mill”.

[Oopsie Daisy]

5. No it's not a "bad deal". The US steel industry is lagging and in need of help.

Comments like those are based on sentiment, nostalgia and pride and ignore reality. We've been slow to adopt new technology and faster/economical production methods. This will bring much-needed cash and resources and it will open up new markets. Time to modernize and get with the times and the new economy. The old way of doing things ain't cutting-it any more. This is an opportunity.

[doc03]

8. That is the bullshit we heard when the Russian oligarch took over our company, none of

it was true the company doesn't exist today. The steel industry is doing better today than it has for years. Ground was broken for a new steel plant in WV not long ago. Technology has changed of course, the new plant will produce 3 million tons per year with I heard 700 employees. That was about the capacity of the company I worked for. I started there in 1970 we had 17,000 employees producing 3 million tons per year.

[Jose Garcia]

10. Tell that to the people who worked for Bethlehem Steel

There is no guarantee that a new (or even the current) American owner will keep the company exactly as it is.

[doc03]

11. As I remember the same Russian oligarch Alexy Mordachov {Severstal} was involved with

shutting down the Sparrows Point plant in Baltimore back around 2010 or so. The Japanese may not be buying US steel for their facilities but for their order book. They will come in and most likely shut down their oldest least efficient facilities which may include Edgar Thomson. That is kind of what happened to my employer, two con men named Bouchard came in and changed management, sold off every profitable operation then sold us to the Russians which shut down the rest in 2009.

[mathematic]

38. How are they going to fill that order book? USS makes 15x more steel than Japan as a whole exports here.

Nippon Steel absolutely plans on operating a steelmaking business in the US. Will they shut down the least efficient facilities? Well, probably. But US Steel was doing that too and they would continue to do that in the future.

The way I see it is that Nippon Steel has deeper pockets so if a mill is on the edge, they can profitably invest the billions in maintenance while US Steel alone would not be able to afford it. This would (tend to) preserve union jobs and steelmaking capacity in the US, which is the opposite of hot-take dire predictions.

The reality is that there's only one steelmaking firm in the US that believes there's a future in old school blast furnaces and that's Cleveland Cliffs. They're the company that kicked off this bidding war for US Steel with an offer that had the complete support of the union. The major issue with that offer, apart from it generally undervaluing US Steel (Cliffs is similarly undervalued), is that it would concentrate the auto industry steel supply into one firm and the auto industry is much more politically powerful than the steel industry. So good luck getting that approved.

[lonely bird]

22. USX Gary Works employed 36,000 people at one time

I sold materials for relining the North and South pickling lines several years ago. At that time they employed about 5,000.

[live love laugh]

25. How does selling off the industry "help"? Who does it "help"?

[Bayard]

9. I would expect them to replace management,

For a start.

[live love laugh]

15. The domestic steel industry plays a crucial role producing military defense equipment.

The proceeds from the sale will only enrich a few individuals and foreign entities.

An economy dependent upon foreign benevolence is an economy at risk.

[Oopsie Daisy]

24. This isn't the 1940's ... WWII (and WWI) are in the past. That's a tired old chestnut.

And Japan is now a very close ally. The "domestic steel" will still be made domestically. The hair-on-fire paranoia and fear that I've been reading online and hearing on the news is off-the-charts! The coverage on NPR is much more rational, reasoned and realistic. They don't rely on fear and hyperbole.

>> The proceeds from the sale will only enrich a few individuals and foreign entities.
Totally different from how it is today, right?

[live love laugh]

27. Wow. Steel is no longer needed for the military artillery? Says .... you?

[Oopsie Daisy]

30. Show me where I said such a thing.

Nice strawman! LOL!

[live love laugh]

31. " This isn't the 1940's ... WWII (and WWI) are in the past. That's a tired old chestnut."

[Oopsie Daisy]

32. It's easy to see that what you quoted (just now) is not a match to what you previously claimed I said.

Thank you for your honesty and setting the record straight and admitting that I never said (or even implied) that "Steel is no longer needed for the military artillery?" For pete's sake. Most reasonable people would understand that my statement was simply pointing out the fact that times have changed. Surely you cannot deny that, right? This type of protectionism is outdated. This is a move that will help to modernize a lagging and outdated steel industry and to help us to remain competitive in the domestic and global market.

[live love laugh]

33. Saying that "times have changed" is so obvious that it's meaningless and irrelevant.

To attempt to make sense of the obvious, your allusions SEEMED to point to the lack of need.

Since you admit there IS a need, I ask you once again how giving away domestic business will “help to modernize a lagging and outdated steel industry and to help us to remain competitive in the domestic and global market.”

It may help Japan who is an ally but, America needs a strengthened manufacturing base.

[Oopsie Daisy]

34. Oh please... just stop! I never DENIED that there's a need.

>> Since you admit there IS a need
Oh please... just stop! I never DENIED that there's a need. Did I?

>> your allusions SEEMED to point to the lack of
Actually, I never made any such allusions regarding a "lack of need". Did I?

>> America needs a strengthened manufacturing base.
What is it that you think this sale does? Do you believe that steel production in the USA is going to be shut down and ALL operations moved to Japan? (It isn't.)

Here's something that causes some folks to scratch their heads in disbelief: Many "foreign import" vehicles are made right here in the USA. They're manufactured in US plants, and they employ US workers.

[live love laugh]

35. Retaining the leftovers from the sale does not strengthen our position

Do you believe that steel production in the USA is going to be shut down and ALL operations moved to Japan? (It isn't.)

The hyperbole and generalization do not hide the fact that you cannot explain how the move strengthens AMERICA. Just because ALL operations are NOT shutting down does not mean that the industry is strengthened here.

[Oopsie Daisy]

36. Yes, I've already explained this to you.

Accusing me of saying things I haven't said, and of not saying things that I actually have said is a complete waste of time. This isn't a discussion, it's just a series of contradictions, strawmen, innuendo, false-inferences, and outright mischaracterizations. Honestly, I've had enough. I've made my point and continuing down this random path is a complete waste of my time.

[live love laugh]

42. You can't explain YOUR point that selling off the steel industry benefits the US so you have "had enough."

[Oopsie Daisy]

43. 🤣😂🤣

[Hekate]

17. I'm with Fetterman. It's past time for the US to start thinking strategically about our industries.

[onetexan]

29. 100%!! This is a matter of national security,

Just like the chip shortage. Fetterman is spot on.

[rockfordfile]

40. I agree.

Japanese company? f that. Same old shit.

[orangecrush]

19. 100% for Fetterman

Too bad he wasn't around to send up to Reagan