Outgoing President Joe Biden just blocked a multi-billion dollar sale of U.S. Steel.

The White House announced the block in a statement that it released on Jan. 3, 2025. It can be read in its entirety here.

Clearly, the Biden administration was expecting a backlash for this decision. Accordingly, the White House's statement is quite lengthy. Extras words were needed to help rationalize the decision.

The company that attempted to make the purchase, as we will see, call Biden's move a "clear violation of due process."

The deal:

Fox Business reports that Nippon Steel, a Japanese company, had made a $14.9 billion proposal to purchase U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel is a company with thousands of employees.

The outlet writes:

Nippon Steel had pledged to invest $2.7 billion in U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works and the Gary Works as part of a modernization project aimed at making the facilities more competitive with international rivals. Nippon also said it would preserve the name, brand, and headquarters of U.S. Steel and refrain from layoffs through 2026 had the deal gone through.

Some, however, raised concerns about the deal.

The New York Post explains:

Nippon’s offer, first announced in December 2023, immediately faced heat from politicians and union leaders. Democratic and Republican lawmakers slammed the deal and treated it as a symbol of the erasure of US-owned companies. The United Steelworkers union claimed it was blindsided by the merger, and argued Nippon was unlikely to honor the union’s contract and protect workers’ pensions.

There were also some national security concerns that have not been fully fleshed out.

It's a "no"

Biden has now decided not to allow the deal to happen.

He said:

So, that is why I am taking action to block this deal. It is my solemn responsibility as President to ensure that, now and long into the future, America has a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry that can continue to power our national sources of strength at home and abroad; and it is a fulfillment of that responsibility to block foreign ownership of this vital American company.

U.S. Steel shares, as a result, have plunged. The question now is whether Nippon will seek legal redress.

Nippon released a statement, saying:

Instead of abiding by the law, the process was manipulated to advance President Biden's political agenda. The President's statement and Order do not present any credible evidence of a national security issue, making clear that this was a political decision.

Accordingly, it does appear as though the company is going to pursue legal action. At the time of this writing, however, no such action has been announced.