ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown's representatives in Washington D.C. are lining up against a pending deal that would see a Japanese company buy U.S. Steel.
Nippon Steel is set to pay more than $14 billion to acquire the Pittsburgh-based corporation, which will maintain its Pennsylvania headquarters and keep its name, according to reports.
“The Lehigh Valley was built on steel — literally and because of Bethlehem Steel. The idea that U.S. Steel is selling to another country is just really kind of heartbreaking.”Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman vowed to try to prevent the deal from going through in a video he filmed at his home across the street from U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thompson plant in Braddock.
“It’s absolutely outrageous that they have sold themselves to a foreign nation,” Fetterman said.
U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, lamented the pending sale Thursday while speaking to LehighValleyNews.com at an event in downtown Allentown.
“The Lehigh Valley was built on steel — literally and because of Bethlehem Steel,” Wild said. “The idea that U.S. Steel is selling to another country is just really kind of heartbreaking.”
“I’m really upset about it; I know both senators are upset about it; (but) I don't know that there's anything that can be done at this point."Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley
The Japanese company’s acquisition of U.S. Steel will likely cost some American steelworkers their jobs, while many businesses could pay more for steel products due to transportation issues, she said.
“As opposed to getting it from the other side of the state, they've got to get it from far, far away,” Wild said. “I think the ripple effect is (going to be) huge, and it's troubling.”
“I’m really upset about it; I know both senators are upset about it; (but) I don't know that there's anything that can be done at this point,” Wild said.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who was also in Allentown this week to celebrate the city’s selection as a finalist for substantial federal funding, has said the sale “appears to be a bad deal” for Pennsylvania and steelworkers.
In a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, both Pennsylvania senators — and state Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Beaver/Allegheny, — raised concerns that Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel “would make a foreign-owned company a central part of the American steel industry, as well as a major employer.”
They called for Yellen to block the sale as chair of the Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States, which analyzes national security risks for foreign investments into the national economy.
“Allowing for the ownership of a major industrial participant in infrastructure and clean energy investments to be acquired by a foreign entity would be a step backwards in our commitment to supply chain integrity and economic security,” they wrote.
