There’s a sense of eagerness among us that – starting Jan. 20 – everything wrong will turn 180 degrees, that every villain will go back to hiding in their caves, that all the dark clouds in the sky will part, and all we be right in the world.
Now we may be getting ahead of ourselves. Even Trump can’t fix everything – but he can fix a lot of things.
Sure, just since his re-election, we’ve seen lower gas prices and a stronger stock market. We’ve seen the Taliban, Hamas, and China, back down from their villainous ways. We’ve even seen Justin Trudeau – the most passive-aggressive head of state in human history – wave a flag of surrender.
But with that last one, China has shown maybe they don’t want to back down. In response to Trudeau’s resignation, China Daily took a swipe at North America with an opinion piece about the lesson to learn from his “timidity.” It reads:
"The US never regards its allies as reliable partners. A lesson Japan has just learned as well after Nippon Steel's bid to purchase US Steel was blocked by the Joe Biden administration on the spurious grounds of national security. Being an enemy of the US is potentially dangerous, but being its ally is harmful in actuality."
While everyone should want to take a victory lap at Trudeau’s or Biden’s expense, the Chinese Tiger knows how good it is for them when the US and Japan don’t get along.
Tokyo-based Nippon Steel wants to acquire Pennsylvania-based US Steel. In mid-2023, Nippon offered $15 billion to US Steel’s owners for the company, a bid more than doubled the one previously made by Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs Steel. Because Pennsylvania was such an important swing state in last year’s election, the Biden Administration blocked the deal – ostensibly to help the United Steel Workers (USW). The Administration has been leveraging the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) on the flimsy national security grounds that a Japanese company shouldn’t acquire an American one.
So, in response – and hoping that Trump and his advisers read what our adversaries say about us in China Daily – Nippon Steel and US Steel have taken their battle to court. Their legal full-court press includes two tranches:
- The first one rebukes Biden’s order to prohibit the deal using CFIUS, asserting that his order was made purely on political grounds – that he ignored the rule of law to in favor of his agenda.
- The second one sues Cleveland-Cliffs and USW for their “illegal campaign to monopolize critical domestic steel markets.” This constitutes anticompetitive and racketeering activities, they say.
In response, CEO Lourenco Goncalves called the lawsuits “a shameless effort to scapegoat others” and pointed out that many Republicans, including Trump himself, had opposed the deal. He continued, “The U.S. Government has properly recognized that granting increasing influence to Nippon Steel via this acquisition is a direct threat to our economy, workforce, infrastructure, and defense, all important elements of national security.”
We realize that President Biden is very old, so we can overlook that he doesn’t realize World War II ended 80 years ago – but what’s Gonclaves’ excuse this week, Goncalves went so far as to pronounce, “Japan is evil.”
Notwithstanding, critics’ economic concerns ignore the recent promise by Nippon that it wouldn’t cut production at US Steel mills, including those in Rep. Dan Meuser’s (R-Penn.) district. “Over 90% of Local Pennsylvania Steelworkers support the U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel Deal because they know it’s essential for their jobs, their future communities, and generations to come,” he said.
Anything that strengthens American relationships along the Pacific Rim rebuts Chinese hegemony. Nippon Steel is the No. 4 steel producer in the world with an annual production of about 44.4 million tons, behind the Chinese state-owned Ansteel Group at 55.65 million. US Steel’s annual production is about 14.5 million, meaning if the two team up they would surpass Ansteel by almost 60 million tons per year!
No wonder the Chinese government doesn’t want the deal to go through.
It doesn’t matter what the Biden Administration thinks now that its time is over. What matters is what Trump and his advisers think. They realize WW2 ended 80 years, they know the Chinese will cheer if the deal sours, they know Pennsylvanians voted for a stronger economy. This could be one of those instances where Trump plays the bully to get a better deal.
Trump is undoing much of the damage done by Biden in the last four years; he can overturn the bad decision on the steel deal. He can’t fix everything – but he can fix this.
Jared Whitley has worked in the US Senate and White House. He has an MBA from Hult business school in Dubai. Recently the Top of the Rockies competition named him the best columnist in the Intermountain West.
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