Biden will block steel merger: The outgoing president, who has about two weeks left in his term, has decided to use his last vestiges of power to tell U.S. Steel that it can't be purchased by Japanese company Nippon Steel, putting the kibosh on a $14.1 billion deal.
The administration is expected to announce this decision later today, according to people within. The justification will apparently be national security-related, which is especially odd because the two companies have previously talked up how this merger will "combat the competitive threat" posed by China. For his part, President-elect Donald Trump has also said he would block the deal if it landed on his desk. Note that both President Joe Biden and Trump are most likely responding to pressure imposed by steelworkers unions within the U.S., which have been vocal in opposition to the deal.
