President Biden issued an order prohibiting Nippon Steel's planned purchase of U.S. Steel on national-security grounds after a CFIUS review failed to reach consensus. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel jointly condemned the decision as political, noting they had offered commitments such as U.S. citizens in key executive posts and no capacity cuts at certain mills for 10 years, and $2.7 billion in planned investment including at least $1 billion at Mon Valley. On January 6 the two companies filed suits challenging the order and the CFIUS process. The order Because CFIUS could not agree on the security risks, it made no recommendation and left the decision to Biden. His order gave the parties 30 days to unwind the transaction. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the deal had received a thorough analysis by the interagency committee. U.S. Steel shares fell and traded well below Nippon Steel's $55 offer. The two lawsuits The first suit, a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, argued that the companies' due process rights were violated, that the decision was made for political reasons and that CFIUS had not reviewed the deal on national security grounds. It asked for a fresh CFIUS review. The companies filed their opening brief on February 3, 2025, with expedited briefing set to end by March 17. The second suit, in federal court in western Pennsylvania, targeted Cleveland-Cliffs, its CEO Lourenco Goncalves and United Steelworkers president David McCall. It alleged that they illegally worked together to stop the deal, in part so that no buyer other than Cliffs could acquire U.S. Steel. These were allegations, not findings. What happened next CFIUS later extended the deadline to abandon the deal to June 18, 2025, which kept it alive after Trump took office. The new review under Trump and the deal's approval and completion are covered in separate entries.
