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J.D. Vance expresses concern about sale of U.S. Steel

By Staff report

December 26, 2023 1:20 PM

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, has written a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asking her to look into the acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation.

“The transaction marks a turning point for an icon of American industry and has dire implications for the industrial base of the United States,” Vance wrote in the letter dated Dec. 19.

What J.D. Vance is saying about the deal

Vance wrote the deal does not take into account U.S. national security concerns.

“.. domestic steel production is vital to U.S. National Security. Democratic and Republican administrations have both acted decisively over the last forty years to bolster the industry,” Vance writes. “This ocroporate takeover is out of step with those goals.”

Vance is appealing to Yellen to act in her capacity as chairwoman of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to investigate the deal.

What Sherrod Brown is saying about the deal

Meanwhile U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the only Democrat in statewide office from Ohio, also has some unkind words for the Nippon Steel deal.

Sen. Brown, who is being targeted by Republicans in the 2024 election, tweeted that “Nippon Steel’s back-room acquisition of a historic manufacturer without consulting U.S. steelworkers is a slap in the face to union workers in America.”

Brown, who has received much union support in past elections and expects it again in 2024, said he is demanding that President Biden “look at all options to protect workers, the American steel industry and our economy.”