Incoming admin said they'd do the same unfortunately [1] [2]. Bad policy, is what it is. Likely leads to some sort of M&A with Cleveland-Cliffs [3]. Steel demand is likely to remain subdued for the foreseeable future [4] due to China's deflationary macro and US Fed target rate remaining elevated, so policy is really just managing stagnation or decline at this time (and the ~14k jobs at risk, ~11k of which are United Steel Workers union members).
Japan is an ally, and US Steel would still produce domestically. In the event of extraordinary circumstances (supply chain mobilization for war time effort), the US government has policy tools to protect and control this supply chain already operational on US soil. Factories and skilled workers are all that is needed, everything else (corp structure, capital primitives) is flexible depending on circumstances and who shows up with force.
If the argument is surge capacity or readiness capability, that requires a more active policy effort around this part of the domestic supply chain (US gov paying to be ready to scale up, having a controlling interest of some sort to direct operations if needed, etc).
My original comment was a bit in jest. However, thinking about it, don’t make the same mistake as we did in Europe. You need heavy industry if you want to remain competitive. Not just the presence of it, you have to own it even if you sink money.
I understand it’s a bipartisan thing. But it doesn’t have to be an Biden is going along with it. I think Biden has been a good president. I just don’t like this decision.
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[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 53.2 ms ] thread[1] https://apnews.com/article/us-steel-nippon-trump-biden-steel...
[2] https://archive.today/xaKEP
[3] https://www.clevelandcliffs.com/news/news-releases/detail/63...
[4] https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/glob...
If the argument is surge capacity or readiness capability, that requires a more active policy effort around this part of the domestic supply chain (US gov paying to be ready to scale up, having a controlling interest of some sort to direct operations if needed, etc).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Production_Act_of_1950
https://som.yale.edu/blog/usage-of-the-defense-production-ac...
https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/2...
My kingdom for people in leadership positions who actually give a damn with will to execute. Alas, it appears not on the menu.
Even Trump has repeatedly said he would block this deal -- https://apnews.com/article/us-steel-nippon-trump-biden-steel...