Nippon Steel vows to not import steel to United States as it tries to save deal

Executive Vice President Takahiro Mori wrote a letter to the United Steelworkers union vowing the company would not import steel slabs to the United States if the $14.9 billion deal is approved. Mori said the promise would help preserve production at Gary Works and other mills.

“Nippon Steel will not import overseas-produced slabs or reduce the ability of U.S. Steel to produce slabs,” Mori wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Times of Northwest Indiana. “Not only is this a commitment, but also shipping slabs halfway around the world is prohibitively expensive and does not make strategic or economic sense when we can produce high-quality slabs in Mon Valley and Gary through our partnership with U. S. Steel.”

Mori is flying to Pittsburgh to meet with the USW leadership. Nippon Steel has been pressing to get the acquisition closed by the end of the year, since the incoming administration has promised to block it.

“We are committed to maintaining blast furnace operations. We know one of the best ways to secure the American steel industry is through investments and upgrades to the blast furnace facilities to extend their operational life,” Mori wrote in the letter to USW.

He said the Japanese steelmaker, the fourth largest in the world, will invest at least $2.7 million in USW-represented mills, including $300 million in Blast Furnace No. 14 at Gary Works.

“Jobs, benefits, and pensions will be protected. We will honor all USW agreements and obligations to current employees and retirees – including profit sharing and pensions. They will be even more secure under Nippon Steel,” he wrote. “There will be no layoffs or facility closures as a result of the transaction and no shift of jobs or production overseas. Steel is a domestic business that requires a local presence and investment, and we know that U. S. Steel’s unionized workforce is essential to the success of our partnership.”

The current administration also has expressed a desire for U.S. Steel to remain American-owned. The Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States and the Justice Department are both reviewing the proposed deal, which critics have contended would further weaken the long-reeling American steel industry.

United Steelworkers District 7 Director Mike Millsap and International President Dave McCall said they remain concerned that the deal will be dangerous for the union and the country.

“We need to ask the tough questions and not be blinded by empty promises from a company whose strategy has always been to centralize its six million tons of non-union U.S. steelmaking production in Arkansas,” they wrote in an update to USW members. “We must stop Nippon from harvesting USW represented facilities and then abandoning our blast furnace and coke making facilities in order to import Japanese slabs.”

Nippon Steel said in the letter to the USW it would not interfere if U.S. Steel pursued tariffs. Mori said it would remain headquartered in Pittsburgh and Nippon Steel would let it make its own decisions and try to protect it against unfair trade.

“Said plainly, our commitments are about protecting and growing U.S. Steel and transforming its facilities so that they can be around for the next generation,” he wrote. “Steelmaking is a heritage we share and together we will strengthen the communities that have been so integral to the success of U.S. Steel over the past century.”