The Biden administration is preparing a security review into the decision to sell United States Steel to Nippon Steel, a Japanese company, as part of the ongoing political debate over the globalisation of American manufacturing.

Lawyers for US Steel and Nippon Steel have consulted several times with Treasury Department officials, beginning the morning the transaction was announced last month, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The phone and email exchanges have focused on the process for filing with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, a Treasury-led interagency panel that has the power to recommend the president block deals if they pose a national security threat, the report said.

Once the companies file formal paperwork with Cfius, the Biden administration will have 90 days to review the transaction.

The White House said the deal deserves ‘serious scrutiny’ but otherwise has said made little comment about the transaction.

“My hope is that Cfius will function here to enable people to say we’ve had a bunch of security experts look at it and this transaction can proceed.”

Stephen Heifetz, lawyer at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

“My hope is that Cfius will function here to enable people to say we’ve had a bunch of security experts look at it and this transaction can proceed,” said Stephen Heifetz, a lawyer at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

More than 50 lawmakers have signed a letter calling on Biden to use ‘all applicable authorities at your disposal to ensure a comprehensive review of this acquisition.’

“Steel is essential to our national security, and we believe that the United States’ marquee steel company should remain under American ownership.''

Statement from senator John Fetterman and representative Chris Deluzio

“Steel is essential to our national security, and we believe that the United States’ marquee steel company should remain under American ownership,” senator John Fetterman and representative Chris Deluzio wrote in a letter soon after the transaction was announced, however, T.J Rooney,a political consultant in Pennsylvania, said politicians shouldn’t let an attachment to the history of steelmaking in Pennsylvania interfere with its future stating that ‘he symbolism should not get in the way of reality’.

Source: Wall Street Journal