Japan’s Prime Minister hopeful, Shinjiro Koizumi, stated on Saturday that Japan and the United States should cooperate in response to the cheap steel materials from China.
Last December, the Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel announced a $14.9 billion acquisition of the U.S. Steel. In April this year, U.S. Steel held a special shareholders’ meeting, overwhelmingly approving the acquisition plan by Nippon Steel. However, this deal has not been favored by the U.S. government.
In March this year, President Biden publicly opposed the deal, stating that the United States needs to maintain a strong U.S. steel company driven by American steelworkers.
Sources revealed on Friday that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is currently reviewing the deal and is expected to provide recommendations to the White House on whether to block the deal by the deadline of September 23.
Shinjiro Koizumi, a former Japanese Environment Minister, highlighted in a debate on Saturday that Japan and the United States should not confront each other in the steel industry but rather work together to face the “common challenge” from the Chinese steel industry.
He mentioned, “If China produces cheap steel without using renewable or clean energy and floods the global market with it, this will have the most adverse impact on us democratic countries that abide by fair market rules.”
According to Reuters, Takahiro Mori, the chief negotiator of Nippon Steel and Vice Chairman, stated last month that Nippon Steel and other Japanese steel companies are urging the Japanese government to consider restrictions on cheap steel imports from China to protect the local market.
43-year-old Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, is considered the leading candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election on September 27. As the party controls the parliament, the new president will become the next prime minister.
The current president of the Liberal Democratic Party and Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has announced that he will not seek re-election as president. Currently, there are nine candidates vying for the presidency. The newly elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party will serve until September 2027, for a term of 3 years.