Can lawmakers stop US Steel from being bought by Japanâs Nippon?

Members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation have asked the federal government to block the sale of U.S. Steel to a Japanese company.

U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, D-Pa., joined U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, in asking the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to prevent Nippon Steel from buying the iconic Pittsburgh-based manufacturer.

“This proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel, if completed, would make a foreign-owned company a central part of the American steel industry, as well as a major employer,” the lawmakers wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who chairs the committee. “As you review this acquisition, we urge you to consider the national security implications of selling a company manufacturing some of our most important industries, including defense, power, and infrastructure, to a foreign company.”

In the letter, the lawmakers noted that Congress had passed legislation to encourage manufacturing in the U.S., rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, and invest in clean energy — but said the deal could undermine those accomplishments.

“The U.S. steel market stands to be a major participant in the once-in-a-generation investments made by Congress in infrastructure and clean energy,” the lawmakers wrote. “Investments in bridges and new energy technology will use American steel thanks to provisions we fought for in Congress and that the Biden administration has delivered on.”

They added: “Allowing for the ownership of a major industrial participant in infrastructure and clean energy investments to be acquired by a foreign entity would be a step backwards in our commitment to supply chain integrity and economic security.”

Three Republican U.S. senators — J.D. Vance of Ohio, Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Marco Rubio of Florida — sent a separate letter to Ms. Yellen urging that the U.S. Steel deal be rejected.

“The transaction marks a turning point for an icon of American industry and has dire implications for the industrial base of the United States,” they wrote. “The transaction was not entered into with U.S. national security in mind.”

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday at a briefing with reporters that “there probably will be some sort of review — a regulatory review,” though declined to comment further.

But there is not much members of Congress can really do to block the deal, congressional experts said. They can speak out against it and possibly introduce legislation or add provisions to spending bills, but their options are limited.

“If an American company wants to be acquired by a foreign company, I don’t see anything Congress can do other than deplore it,” said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “In a place where performance is everything, they can perform. They will rise to the heights of moral indignation, which they’re very good at.”

Paul Herrnson, a political science professor at the University of Connecticut, said Congress is loath to interfere with corporate transactions in a capitalist economy, even though they “may abhor that private industries move their companies or sell companies abroad.”

By speaking out, he said, “lawmakers “want to make sure their constituencies get the sense they did everything they could do to prevent [a foreign takeover] from happening.”

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