HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The bid by Japan's Nippon Steel to buy U.S. Steel may have a new lease on life, even as the potential for a new bid for the storied Pittsburgh steelmaker began to emerge Monday.
Lourenco Goncalves, the CEO of Ohio-based steelmaker Cleveland Cliffs, said in a news conference Monday that he wanted to make a new bid for U.S. Steel, which accepted the buyout offer from Nippon in 2023 after it rejected an offer by Cleveland-Cliffs.
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Eiji Hashimoto, chairman and CEO of Nippon Steel Corporation, attends a press conference at their company headquarters Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Eiji Hashimoto, chairman and CEO of Nippon Steel Corporation, walks to a press conference at their company headquarters Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Eiji Hashimoto, chairman and CEO of Nippon Steel Corporation, attends a press conference at their company headquarters Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks past a Nippon Steel Corporation sign at the company headquarters Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Goncalves declined to give financial details about the bid, but said in a news conference at a Cleveland-Cliffs plant in western Pennsylvania that it is an “all-American solution" to save U.S. Steel. He said he would relocate Cleveland-Cliffs' headquarters to Pittsburgh, keep the U.S. Steel name and make Cleveland-Cliffs part of U.S. Steel.
Over the weekend, the Biden administration extended a deadline for the Japanese steelmaker to abandon plans to acquire U.S. Steel after President Joe Biden blocked the deal.
The new deadline, now in mid-June, was viewed by U.S. Steel — and investors, apparently — as an opportunity for the companies to complete the acquisition, even though President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office in a week, also opposes the deal.
Biden nixed the acquisition this month citing a potential threat to national security, though the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, failed to reach a consensus on the security issue.
“We are pleased that CFIUS has granted an extension to June 18, 2025 of the requirement in President Biden’s Executive Order that the parties permanently abandon the transaction," U.S. Steel said in a statement Sunday. "We look forward to completing the transaction, which secures the best future for the American steel industry and all our stakeholders.”
Shares of U.S. Steel rose 6% in trading Monday.
The proposed deal kicked up an election year political maelstrom across America’s industrial heartland and quickly drew vows by Biden and Trump from the campaign trail in a critical battleground state to block the deal.
Even after the election, Trump wrote on social media in December that he is “totally against” U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company and said he would block the deal as president. He reiterated that stance this month after it was blocked by Biden.
However, a CFIUS composed of Trump appointees and Trump himself may be free to allow the deal to go through, or negotiate new terms.
Dennis Unkovic, a Pittsburgh lawyer who works on international business transactions, including deals in which CFIUS approval was required, said a new CFIUS and a new president are not legally bound by Biden’s decision.
CFIUS giving the parties an extra six months to unwind the deal is unusual, Unkovic said. It wasn't immediately clear why CFIUS extended the deadline, but Unkovic pointed to reports that Biden's CFIUS was divided over whether it was a security threat.
“Extending this from the 30 days to the 180 days was a sign that there were people in the Biden administration that would like somebody to take a second look at this,” Unkovic said.
CFIUS' job is to see if there are workarounds or modifications to a deal to allow it to go through, and rarely is a deal turned down, Unkovic said. After CFIUS takes another look at it, it could still be up to Trump to decide.
“Now how he comes down on it, who knows?” Unkovic said.
Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel have insisted that the deal presents no national security problem for the U.S., said Biden's decision to block it was a violation of legal due process and a political calculation.
The two steel companies sued in federal court three days after Biden announcement and accused the head of the Steelworkers union, Cleveland-Cliffs and Goncalves of working together to scuttle the buyout in a separate lawsuit.
The United Steelworkers have opposed the Nippon Steel deal, concerned over whether the company would honor existing labor agreements or slash jobs, and questioned Nippon Steel's status as an honest broker for U.S. national trade interests.
However, some union members have come out in favor of the deal. Nippon Steel — the world's fourth-largest steelmaker — says its ability to invest in U.S. Steel's aging blast furnace plants in Pennsylvania and Indiana will boost the ability of the U.S. to compete in an industry dominated by China.
U.S. Steel has warned that, without Nippon Steel’s cash, it will shift production away from the blast furnaces to cheaper non-union electric arc furnaces and move its headquarters out of Pittsburgh.
Goncalves said U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel abandoning their blocked deal is critical to his company's ability to mount a new bid and, until that happens, he can't make a bid.
“If I present an offer today, they can’t take it," Goncalves said. "So the very first thing that needs to happen, the merger agreement needs to be abandoned.”
He also suggested that Trump's CFIUS could move the deadline to abandon the Nippon-U.S. Steel deal back to the original deadline set by Biden of Feb. 3.
Follow Marc Levy on X at: https://x.com/timelywriter.
Eiji Hashimoto, chairman and CEO of Nippon Steel Corporation, attends a press conference at their company headquarters Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Eiji Hashimoto, chairman and CEO of Nippon Steel Corporation, walks to a press conference at their company headquarters Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Eiji Hashimoto, chairman and CEO of Nippon Steel Corporation, attends a press conference at their company headquarters Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks past a Nippon Steel Corporation sign at the company headquarters Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) —
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina voters on Tuesday aimed to winnow the field in high-profile races for governor and U.S. Senate, with Republicans seeking to maintain a statewide winning streak that stretches back decades.
Republican contenders have trumpeted their loyalty to President Donald Trump, who has remained popular in the state despite some nationwide wavering as the war with Iran continues. Sen. Lindsey Graham, among Trump's top allies on Capitol Hill, notched the president's endorsement before his campaign had even begun.
In the governor's race, Trump backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette over several opponents, including U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace. The primary will determine whether the endorsement can help Evette win outright or if there will be a runoff on June 23.
Democrats are searching for their first victory in a statewide race here in 20 years, but their campaigns for governor and Senate were an uphill climb.
Competition among Republicans for Trump’s support has seemed more intense than any other facet of the primary campaign.
Even before Evette received the president's endorsement, she frequently featured photos and videos of herself with Trump in campaign materials. She was backed by outgoing Gov. Henry McMaster, a longstanding ally of Trump whose support telegraphed the president's own.
Mace also wanted Trump's support, and he endorsed her congressional reelection in 2024 even though she criticized his actions of Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Ralph Norman, among the most conservative members of the House and a member of the Freedom Caucus, strongly supported Trump in the president’s first term. But in the 2024 campaign, Norman stumped for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley instead of Trump.
Rom Reddy, a coastal businessman who has eschewed campaign donations and self-funded his effort, has touted his lack of political experience as an asset, drawing comparisons between Trump and himself.
South Carolina’s other top contest Tuesday is its Senate race, where Graham is competing for the Republican nomination as he seeks a fifth term. A political confidant and regular golfing partner of the president, Graham has routinely batted back primary challengers over the years. Some of this year's contenders — including Project 2025 chief architect Paul Dans and former Lt. Gov. André Bauer — dropped out months ago.
Although their relationship has undulated through the years, Graham has remained close with Trump, who fulfilled the senator's longstanding wish for direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran. Graham cheered Trump’s decision to strike nuclear sites last year and recently said he often speaks to the president about the ongoing conflict.
Among Graham's primary foes is Greenville businessman Mark Lynch, who has said Graham isn't conservative enough to represent the state. Calling himself an “America First” candidate, Lynch has campaigned as a Trump supporter, but on social media the president has called him a “lunatic” and a “disaster for the Republican Party."
Democrats haven’t won the governor’s office or a Senate seat in South Carolina for decades and Republicans in recent history typically have taken statewide seats by double-digit margins.
On Tuesday, Charleston pediatrician Annie Andrews has won South Carolina’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, bidding to block Graham from a fifth term. Andrews, who unsuccessfully ran against Mace in 2022, had challenged what she’s characterized as Graham’s waffling positions over the course of his political career.
Republicans in recent history typically take statewide seats by double-digit margins. And when he last ran in 2020, Graham defeated his Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, by a 10 percentage point margin.
Meanwhile, McMaster defeated his opponent by nearly 18 percentage points in 2022.
Some Democrats hope to capitalize on dissatisfaction with Trump this year.
In the governor's race, state Rep. Jermaine Johnson advanced Tuesday to a Democratic primary runoff in the South Carolina governor’s race.
Johnson has represented a district in the Columbia area for three terms. Seen as a rising star in the state party, Johnson was tapped to give this year’s Democratic response to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster’s state of the state address.
The winner of the November general election will succeed McMaster, who has been in office since Nikki Haley left her term early to join the first Trump administration.
Democrats have not won a general election for governor in South Carolina since 1998, and Republicans have controlled all statewide-elected offices in the state for more than a decade.
In the governor's race, State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, seen as a rising star in the party, won the Democratic nomination to advance to November's general election. He was facing several opponents, including political newcomer Billy Webster, a payday loan company founder who lent his campaign $2 million. There also was attorney Mullins McLeod, who withstood calls from party leaders to shutter his campaign after dashcam video of his 2025 disorderly conduct arrest was released.
Johnson has represented a district in the Columbia area for three terms. In gaining prominence, he also was tapped to give this year’s Democratic response to McMaster’s state of the state address.
The winner of the November general election will succeed McMaster, who has been in office since Nikki Haley left her term early to join the first Trump administration. Democrats have not won a general election for governor in South Carolina since 1998, and Republicans have controlled all statewide-elected offices in the state for more than a decade.
This story has been corrected to show Jermaine Johnson won the Democratic nomination for South Carolina governor, not entering a runoff.
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette speaks during the final rally of her GOP primary campaign for governor on Monday, June 8, 2026, in Greer, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
FILE - U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., takes questions from reporters following a South Carolina gubernatorial GOP candidate debate on April 1, in Newberry, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)
FILE - Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, R-S.C., takes questions from reporters after receiving the endorsement of Gov. Henry McMaster, R-S.C., in the 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary, Feb. 12, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)
FILE - Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks with supporters after filing his reelection paperwork, March 16, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)
