Nippon Steel seeks to address concerns on US Steel deal
Nippon Steel told US government officials it had proposed adopting a binding national security agreement to address Biden administration concerns about its proposed $14.9 billion acquisition of US Steel, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Nippon told the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in a joint letter on Tuesday with US Steel it would commit to maintaining the American steel company’s current production and would only be able to reduce production capacity if it was “approved by a majority of the independent US citizen directors of the US Steel board.
US Steel would also maintain an internal officer-level “trade committee” comprised of US citizens, Nippon said.
Nippon also disclosed it had hired former US House majority leader Dick Gephardt to assist in its efforts to reach an agreement with the United Steelworkers.