Steelmakers Sue Over U.S. Rejection of Deal

U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel filed a pair of lawsuits Monday accusing President Biden, the president of the steelworkers union and the chief executive of a rival company of conspiring to scuttle their $14.1 billion tie-up.

- BOB TITA

Biden on Friday rejected Nippon Steel's purchase of the storied American steelmaker, citing national security concerns.

In one lawsuit the companies asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside the decision, claiming that election-year politics subverted a national-security review process. Also named in the suit were the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Cfius is a federal interagency panel charged with probing foreign investments in U.S. companies for national security risks. The companies want the appeals court to order a new national security review of the deal.

In a separate suit filed in Pittsburgh federal court, the companies accused ClevelandCliffs, its CEO Lourenco Goncalves and United Steelworkers President Dave McCall of racketeering and anticompetitive activities to keep Nippon Steel from completing the sale. Cliffs attempted to acquire U.S. Steel in 2023 with the union's backing, but was outbid by Nippon Steel, which clinched a deal in December of that year.

"The president and Cfius corrupted and compromised a critical mechanism for the protection of America's national security in order to serve the president's personal political agenda," Nippon Steel and U.S.Steel said in their complaint.