Cleveland-Cliffs wasn’t on the sidelines of the U.S. Steel sale melodrama very long, and may have brought reinforcements.
Lourenco Goncalves, the Cliffs chief executive who instigated the bidding war for his fiercest rival last summer, said Monday he had an “All-American solution” to keep the iconic company under domestic ownership “when” — not “if” — its pending sale to a Japanese corporation is ultimately blocked.
After staying out of the fray for more than a week after President Joe Biden ordered U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel of Japan to unwind their agreement, Cliffs returned to the conversation amid reports of a partnership with Nucor, another American producer, to sell off a subsidiary. Goncalves declined to confirm a deal with Nucor for Big River Steel, a set of mini mills in Arkansas.
“I’m not going to show the strategy on this thing,” he said at a press conference in Butler, Pennsylvania, later adding: “I want to buy. I have a plan. I have an All-American solution in place. It centers on people and workers, exactly like we did here. Same thing. Same playbook.”
If the strategy behind Cliffs’ rekindled interest involved courting President-elect Donald Trump, then Goncalves played all the hits Monday, from the American-led alternative, to touting the industrial strength of the U.S., right down to repeating the “America First” mantra.
U.S. Steel, in name at least, would still exist under a new bid — the mining side would remain Cleveland-Cliffs and the steel side U.S. Steel — and Goncalves further committed to keeping plants open, investing in upgrades and moving himself to Pittsburgh, where the steelmaking side of the operation would remain headquartered.
The chief executive invoked Trump’s previous statements against the sale to Nippon Steel, propped up Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and Sen. Marco Rubio, the nominee for Secretary of State. He delicately praised Biden and some CFIUS members, while taking aim at other cabinet officials for potentially supporting the foreign bid, questioning if they had the “U.S. in their hearts.”
Supporters of the current deal haven’t expressed optimism over its prospects under Trump, who has found common ground with Democratic foes on the issue and has little to risk following a strong election performance in steel states. Goncalves said Monday he spoke to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and potential 2028 presidential candidate, who approved of a Cliffs bid.
Biden administration officials Saturday reportedly delayed enforcement of the president’s order to abandon the deal until June 18, a departure from the Feb. 2 deadline, though U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel have appealed the decision.
Moving the deadline gives the companies more time to lobby the incoming Trump administration to repeal the order, and also gives government lawyers and courts time to review the lawsuit. Goncalves questioned whether the Trump administration could revert back to the Feb. 2 timeline, though the appeals court could issue its own delay on the enforcement while the legal process plays out.
Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel have said they plan to exhaust all options to complete the merger, a nearly $15 billion transaction.
“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.”
Officially abandoning the current deal would give Cliffs the green light to pursue a new bid, but it wouldn’t guarantee an outcome. The U.S. Steel board would need to reengage on sale talks and approve a new bid, even as the company pursues a lawsuit against Goncalves.
U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt said antitrust hurdles were a factor when declining the original Cliffs proposal, but industry sources questioned early on if the company had an idea on how to satisfy the Department of Justice before the bid was submitted, meaning certain terms or asset sales were baked into it. The reported presence of Nucor would lend a hand to that thinking, and Cliffs recently passed antitrust reviews on its recent Stelco purchase.
Goncalves, on Monday, said he believes U.S. Steel could still survive as a standalone company in its current form. But, he added, the Cliffs track record of growing after buying AK Steel and ArcelorMittal USA was his preferred blueprint for the domestic steel industry.
“We have to have size in this business. It’s a cost synergy thing. I’ve proven that,” Goncalves aid. “Then we’ll be on equal footing. They’ll respect us like they used to respect us in the 70s and 80s and before.”
