Potential Harris running mate Josh Shapiro opposes Nippon-US Steel merger

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said on Tuesday that he cannot support Japanese firm Nippon Steel’s bid to buy US Steel in its current form because the United Steelworkers union is unhappy with the merger.

“Speaking from a state perspective as governor, if the US steel workers aren’t happy with this deal, which they are not, I’m not happy with this deal,” Shapiro said at an Internal Revenue Service event attended by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

“If I don’t see a future where US Steel manufacturing continues here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and is expanding from what is happening right now, I’m not happy, so I’ve got really serious concerns,” he said.

Shapiro told a press conference after a tax event in Philadelphia that he will review any business deal through “the prism of how does it impact Pennsylvania workers”, as the state has grown thanks to US Steel and other industrial manufacturers.

The Japanese and US firms believe the merger, creating the world’s third-largest steelmaker by volume, would benefit them. A large majority of US Steel shareholders have also already approved the US$14.1 billion deal.

But since the planned all-cash transaction was announced in December, United Steelworkers International has spoken against it, turning it into a sensitive political issue.

Biden, who needed to secure support from trade unions for the presidential election, said multiple times earlier this year that the steelmaker should be domestically owned.

On Tuesday, Shapiro also said: “What’s been put forth on the table is not something that would enjoy my approval, and I’m going to continue to stand directly side-by-side and locked-arms with US steel workers, the very people who have built this commonwealth and this