Statement from National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard on U.S. Steel

The President believes U.S. Steel was an integral part of our arsenal of democracy in WWII and remains a core component of the overall domestic steel production that is critical to our national security. And he has been clear that we welcome manufacturers across the world building their futures in America with American jobs and American workers. However, he also believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned company by a foreign entity—even one from a close ally—appears to deserve serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability. This looks like the type of transaction that the interagency committee on foreign investment Congress empowered and the Biden Administration strengthened is set up to carefully investigate. This Administration will be ready to look carefully at the findings of any such investigation and to act if appropriate.
 
Steel is the backbone of American manufacturing on everything from infrastructure to cars to our clean energy future. Since President Biden took office, 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been created. Because of President Biden’s policies, factories are coming back home, jobs are coming back home, American companies are making things in America again. The Bipartisan Infrastructure law, Inflation Reduction Act, and Chips and Science Act are fueling a Made in America manufacturing rebound. President Biden has taken action to protect the U.S. steel companies against unfair and market-distorting trade practices in China and other countries.
 
The United Steelworkers (USW) has been a leader in all of these efforts, and are an example of why union leadership is critical in building the economy from the middle out and bottom up. President Biden believes union workers are the best workers in the world. And that’s why his Administration is committed to doing everything it can to ensure steelworkers can compete on a level playing field, through policies that both combat unfair trade practices and recognize that a strong U.S domestic steel industry is vital to our economy and national security. 

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