Editorial: Are there any guarantees with Nippon Steel?

If Nippon Steel really wants to buy American, it should start by selling the union on the deal. Right now, the members aren’t buying it.

The Japanese company’s $14.9 billion offer to acquire Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel has been on the table since December. U.S. Steel stockholders approved the deal in April, but seven months later, finalizing it remains wrapped up in red tape.

There has been opposition from political leaders of both parties. There is little that President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump agree on, but both have been against merging one of America’s largest steel producers with a foreign corporation.

Opponents have pointed to business and national security issues, including supply-chain considerations made more clear during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has delayed its review and recommendation on the sale. That incomplete step is expected to be delivered Dec. 23.

Ahead of that, an advertising campaign is once again trying to promote the sale. The ads blanketed the area this year. A new round features mayors in affected Mon Valley communities as well as steelworkers.

United Steelworkers International President David McCall represents the union that has been against the sale and skeptical of Nippon promises, like a vowed $1 billion investment in the Mon Valley Works.

“They’re spending a hell of a lot of money on PR that I’d assume they’d put into our facilities,” McCall told TribLive.

The union wants guarantees Pittsburgh-area jobs are safe and the Southwestern Pennsylvania steelworking legacy stays safe.

“And they have said to us clearly, ‘We’ll talk to you about it after closing.’ That’s not good enough for us. Why would we support that kind of response?” McCall said.

In a letter Monday, Nippon’s Executive Vice President Takahiro Mori made another promise, saying the company would sell its stake in another American steel plant joint venture if the U.S. Steel deal is completed.

This is another “trust me” plea hoping to get the deal done. Perhaps steelworkers, Pennsylvanians, politicians and the reviewing committee would find more trust with progress than promises. Is there a reason that stake can’t be sold first as a sign of commitment?

The ads touting the deal as the “future of American steel” may well be the truth. If that big money investment in the Mon Valley Works happens and the promises to the union come through, that could be a huge boon to the local steel industry. Trump’s promised tariffs might be a benefit, making it better for U.S. companies to buy Pittsburgh-produced steel instead of Japanese metal.

But Nippon Steel can’t expect guarantees if it doesn’t give them.