【明報專訊】THE HK$100 BILLION PROPOSAL of Nippon Steel Corporation (hereinafter Nippon Steel) to acquire United States Steel Corporation (hereinafter US Steel) has met with tremendous political resistance. Even though the senior executives of Nippon Steel and US Steel have flown to Washington, DC to lobby the government, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have all voiced their unequivocal opposition at a time when the US election is approaching and the swing state of Pennsylvania is in a heated battle. The trio emphasised that US Steel must not fall into foreign hands.
At the end of last year, Nippon Steel, Japan's largest steel company, entered into an agreement with US Steel. Under the agreement, Nippon Steel would acquire US Steel for US$14.9 billion (approximately HK$116.2 billion), and the resultant "US Steel-Nippon Steel" would become one of the world's largest steel companies outside of China. However, the United Steelworkers union is strongly opposed to the merger out of fear of massive layoffs, and there has been overwhelming opposition from the US political circles.
During the Democratic primaries in March this year, Biden publicly opposed the acquisition, emphasising that it was of crucial importance for US Steel to be owned by American people.
To appease the US, Nippon Steel has extended one olive branch after another. It has, for example, promised to appoint three American independent directors to the US Steel board after the acquisition. It has also guaranteed that the core senior management positions of US Steel will be filled by Americans. It is believed that many US allies will doubt how the US actually treats its so-called "allies" if it remains dead set on blocking the acquisition on the grounds of "national security".
Amid a once-in-a-century change in the global situation, rivalries among great powers are intense. It is difficult to find fault with the elevation of the importance of national security considerations. However, in recent years, the US government has behaved in a way that has lumped national security together with economic nationalism, which has resulted in a mindset that is a far cry from the free market.
The Biden administration has not put "America First" on its lips, but many of its economic policies are essentially no different from those of the Trump administration. "America First" has been expanded so that "what belongs to me remains mine and you cannot touch it, but the good things that you have should also be mine". From forcing TikTok to sell its US business to American companies to making TSMC set up factories in the US so as to "snatch" its chip production, they all reflect this mindset. The so-called "friendshoring" is also limited to products that the US is not interested in manufacturing.
Concerning Nippon Steel's abortive acquisition of US Steel, the so-called "national security" reason given by the US is just a pretext for economic nationalism and protectionism, which violates not only the free-market creed emphasised by the US itself but also its own national interest. The massively rising unpredictability of the US government's economic decisions will be a big problem for all countries. While Nippon Steel wants to turn the situation around, it would be very difficult to revive the acquisition unless things take an unexpected turn.
明報社評2024.09.16：華府阻止日鐵收購美鋼 泛國安化盟友情何以堪
日本製鐵（下稱日鐵）千億港元收購美國鋼鐵公司（下稱美鋼）提案，遇上巨大政治阻力，日鐵美鋼高層親赴華盛頓游說，然而美國大選在即，搖擺州賓夕法尼亞爭持激烈，無論拜登、賀錦麗或特朗普，都表明反對今次併購，強調美鋼不能落在外國手中。
去年底，日本最大鋼鐵公司日鐵，跟美鋼達成協議，日鐵將以149億美元（約1162億港元）收購美鋼，成事後，「美鋼-日鐵」將成為中國以外全球最大的鋼鐵公司之一，然而美國鋼鐵工會大力反對合併，擔心大規模裁員，來自美國政界的反對聲音同樣排山倒海。
今年3月民主黨初選期間，拜登便公開反對這宗收購案，強調保持美鋼由美國人持有「至關重要」。
日鐵為了令美方態度軟化，其實已一再伸出橄欖枝，例如承諾收購後將向美鋼董事會委任3名美籍獨立董事，以及確保美鋼核心高級管理層由美國人出任等，若美方仍然堅持以「國家安全」為由阻止併購，相信不少美國盟友心裏都會懷疑，究竟美方是怎麼看待所謂的「盟友」。
世界百年不遇變局，大國博弈激烈，國家安全考慮重要性提高，本來無可厚非，但近年美國政府的情况，卻是將國家安全與經濟民族主義混為一談，形成了一種遠離自由市場的思維模式。
拜登政府沒有將「美國優先」掛嘴邊，但很多經濟決策，骨子裏其實跟特朗普政府沒分別，「美國優先」被進一步「發揚光大」，「我的東西固然是我的不准碰，你的好東西也應該是我的」，無論是脅迫抖音將美國業務賣給美企，還是要台積電在美國設廠、希望將晶片生產「搶過來」，都反映了這種思維；所謂「友岸外包」，也僅限於美方沒有興趣自行生產的東西。
日鐵收購美鋼案難產，美方所謂的「國家安全」理由，不過是經濟民族主義及保護主義的包裝紙，不僅違背美國所強調的自由市場信條，甚至有悖國家利益，華府經濟決策不可測性大幅增加，對所有國家都是一大麻煩。雖然日鐵仍想力挽狂瀾，然而除非發生出乎意料的轉折，併購案要絕處逢生，確是談何容易。
■ Glossary 生字 /
appease : to make sb calmer or less angry by giving them what they want
lump : to put or consider different things together in the same group, even when they are actually quite different
turn around : to change position or direction so as to face the other way
■休刊小啓：英文社評 將於9月18日（星期三）休刊一天。
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