The prospect of a Japanese corporation buying U.S. Steel — whose products shaped American landmarks like the Empire State Building — is stirring an election-year debate over just how far the United States should go in embracing economic nationalism.
When Nippon Steel in December offered to buy the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker for $14.9 billion, investors cheered. But there was vocal opposition from the United Steelworkers union, which complained it had not been consulted, and prominent lawmakers in both parties, who objected to a foreign buyer swallowing a venerable American company. The loss of independence, they said, could threaten national security by leaving the United States short of steel in a crisis.
“I’m flat-out opposed to it,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) said in an interview. “And it’s not just this transaction I’m worried about. The precedent really matters.”
