[Music] it may not matter that presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and kamla Harris both want to stop a Japanese company from acquiring us steel that's because current President Joe Biden is beating them to it according to multiple reports Biden plans to block the $15 billion deal between Japan's nepon steel and US Steel on the grounds of National Security this would be an unprecedented move with such a close us Ally presidents have used this PA to previously block foreign transactions on National Security risks eight times in history seven of those were from Chinese companies and the eighth was a Singaporean company with close ties to China and China's Huawei blocking the nepon US steel sale would make the ninth such Block in history the stock price for us steel plunged around 20% Wednesday afternoon when reports first came out about Biden's supposed plans at the same time the company was wrapping up a rally in downtown Pittsburgh in in support of the neon deal it is time to put politics aside and do what's right for you and all of the other steel workers in Pennsylvania so let's make sure that we protect our jobs we protect our communities and our future let's close this deal us steel says without the transaction the company will largely pivot away from its Blast Furnace facilities putting thousands of good paying union jobs at risk and depriving the American steel industry of an opportunity to better compete on the global stage however the United Steel Workers Union has pushed back against the transaction accusing nepon steel of sidest stepping engagement with union workers us steel is headquartered in Pittsburgh where politicians are courting Pennsylvania voters a critical Battleground state in the upcoming election United Steel Workers endorses kamla Harris for president just as it did Joe Biden earlier this year on Thursday Japanese min and Prime ministerial candidate Tero Kono said perhaps it is the presidential election and everyone wants the labor union vote but I would hope that the market would not be distorted by such a situation he said governments should not intervene in deals arbitrarily this past weekend the Biden Administration warned nepon Steel in a letter that the US steel acquisition would pose a national security risk according to exclusive reporting by Reuters the committee on foreign investments in the United States which is investigating the said it would damage American steel production and decrease the likelihood that us steel would continue to aggressively seek trade remedies I personally remain extremely engaged in trade matters today and nipon steel plans it to continue just that way as we always have done they are committing massive dollars to this country and to this company and cannot afford to let the countries who have utter disregard for fair trade like China who try to export their own economic woes and their unemployment problems to the United States to wipe out us deal here in the USA the companies at the center of the deal accuse the US of acting not in fact but on the basis of politics President Biden first publicly opposed the deal in March arguing us steel should remain American-owned a sentiment shared by Harrison Trump JP Morgan Andrew Carnegie and Charles Schwab formed the company back in 190 1 under law the president can only block the transaction after receiving the committee's final report on National Security risks for straight AA news I'm Simon Del Rosario [Music]