Representative Director, Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President, Nippon Steel Corporation
Nippon Steel Vice Chairman and Gary Mayor Announce $1 Billion Investment Pending US Steel Deal
... of Gary, along with Representative Director and Vice Chairman of Nippon Steel Takahiro Mori Vice Chairman Mori announced ...
Transcript (19 segments)
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Erica Blackwell3:56
Good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon. All right, time to get started. Good afternoon, my name is Erica Blackwell, I'm the Chief Communications Director for the City of Gary, and on behalf of the office of the mayor, I want to welcome all of you to the city of Gary on this chilly afternoon. During our press conference today, we're delighted to welcome Representative Director and Vice Chairman of Nippon Steel, Takahiro Mori, Vice Chairman Mori, and Mayor Eddie Melton. They will be making remarks on the pending sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel and discussing the impact this will have on our city. With that, I would like to welcome the mayor of Gary, Eddie Melton.
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Eddie Melton4:48
Good afternoon everyone. I want to thank everybody for coming out. This is an important conversation. I want to thank Mr. Mori and his team that traveled from Japan to Washington DC to Gary. Many of you are aware of the pending transaction with US Steel and Nippon Steel. I'm here to share my support for this deal and why it's important for Gary. We have workers from United Steel Workers standing with us. We welcome Nippon Steel today. US Steel founded Gary in 1906. Over the years, people from all over the world migrated to Gary to work in steel mills. That same vibrancy is still here. This deal is about families and the integrity of the city. Communities like Birmingham, Mon Valley, Pittsburgh are wrestling with the fate of this deal. I was skeptical at first, but after learning more, I support it. The CFIUS committee will make a recommendation to President Biden on national security concerns. There have been no reports of national security issues. Japan is one of our closest allies. Nippon has been in Indiana for over 50 years. Gary has seen a decline from 30,000 workers to 4,000, and population from 200,000 to 70,000. As mayor, I support this deal after due diligence. I encourage the United Steel Workers leadership to sit down with Nippon to address concerns. Nippon is in discussions to purchase US Steel for $14.9 billion. I spent days in DC with the Nippon team meeting with congressional leaders. I want to read a letter from Congressman Benny Thompson and Congresswoman Maxine Waters to President Biden. They express concerns about the merger's impact on workers, but note that Mayor Melton has engaged with Nippon which has committed to investments. They urge the administration to delay finalizing to allow negotiations. Key commitments: job security, local investment, environmental remediation, tax equity. I ask Mr. Mori to come forward. We are honored to have Mr. Mori here to share their vision.
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Takahiro Mori14:23
Yeah, thank you everybody. Good afternoon. I'm Takahiro Mori, Representative Director and Vice Chairman of Nippon Steel. I oversee the exciting partnership between Nippon Steel and US Steel. I want to thank Mayor Melton, who has been a vocal advocate for this deal and always puts his constituents first. Nippon Steel has been operating in the US for more than 50 years, with 8 operations and 4,000 employees, including 3 companies in Indiana with 600 employees. We started a joint venture with Inland Steel in the 80s near South Bend. Former Governor Mitch Daniels was instrumental in bringing Japanese companies to the state. Since announcing the deal, I have made many visits to US Steel facilities, including multiple trips to Gary. I am confident that US Steel has competitive strength to become a world-leading steelmaker. The core is the people. The men and women of Gary Works will build the future. With Nippon Steel's investment and technology, we will protect and grow facilities like Gary Works. We have made commitments: no job loss or plant closure, we will need more workers. We will not ship slabs from overseas; steel is a local business. We plan to invest no less than $1.4 billion through 2026 for facilities covered by the basic labor agreement, far above the $1 billion committed by US Steel. Specifically for Gary: in August we announced $1.3 billion investment including $300 million to reline Blast Furnace 14, extending its life by 20 years. We will also reline and repair blast furnaces by 2030. We will continue operation of hot strip mill and cold strip mill, and review feasibility of revitalizing the tin plate mill. Total investment commitments no less than $2.7 billion, with almost $950 million allocated to Gary. We believe this partnership is the beginning of a bright future. On Tuesday, Nippon announced a closing bonus of $5,000 for every US employee, to be paid soon after closing. For Gary Works, that means roughly $20 million in total bonuses coming to the local economy. I am hopeful we can secure the support of the USW leadership. Nothing can change our belief that unionized labor is the backbone of US Steel. The men and women of Gary Works are central to this success. I am confident we will close this deal and support a prosperous future where American workers make steel products in America for Americans. Thank you.
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Eddie Melton24:17
So thank you, Mr. Mori. I think we can clearly hear the investments that are going to take place right here in Gary, nearly a billion dollars committed, and the commitment to the workers. I respectfully ask and request that President Biden before he leaves office approves this sale before we reach into the new year. With that, I'm going to ask if there are any questions from our media outlets. I'll take a couple, but we want to make sure we respect Mr. Mori's time. So Jackie, I'll start with you.
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Jackie25:09
Hello everyone. Hello. So will Nippon continue US Steel's prime right now of automobile industry? Is that line still going to be the main?
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Takahiro Mori25:29
Fus you want to ask? Yeah, oh well, we are keep providing our excellent products to automotive industries. Is that your question? Okay, yes, yes, we will do that.
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Jackie25:47
Yeah, uh, the capital?
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Reporter25:51
Yeah, hi, I'm J.H., environment rep for Calumet Gary. My question is: is Nippon continuing to use black blast furnace technology, and if so, what is their response to environmental and health concerns from the use of that?
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Eddie Melton26:10
And if I could share briefly, we just had a meeting with members of Guard, I'm not sure if they're still in the room with us today, to talk about the environmental sustainability piece, and they made a commitment to make sure that that's going to be a priority in that effort. So I appreciate that conversation, making a cleaner steelmaking process.
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Reporter26:28
Yeah, yeah. Oh, can you expand upon the plans for the tin mill? And would that include the East Chicago tin mill potentially as well? And then also, is there any concerns this might be too little too late given the reports that the Biden administration is going to block this and the next administration says they're going to block the transaction as well?
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Eddie Melton26:43
All right, let me deal with that first. The last one: as it relates to the current administration, the president had an opportunity to pretty much end the deal already. We know that they're waiting on CFIUS to provide a recommendation on those national security processes. As I mentioned earlier, there haven't been any signs of any national security issues, so this gives us an opportunity to address any concerns that the steel workers may have that are lingering, that will help President Biden see that this was a good deal across the board for everyone. Now as it relates to the incoming administration, I mentioned before, you can't tax your way or tariff your way to making a stronger US Steel, and that's the only solution that I heard from the incoming administration. I do believe there's an opportunity. I believe the next president is very familiar with Gary, he's had businesses in Gary, understands the plight that Gary may have. So I'm willing to work with Mr. Mori and others to sit down with President-elect Trump to have that conversation to figure out how we can move forward.
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Takahiro Mori28:06
The uh, you say East Chicago? This is work. Can you just expand upon the plans for he mentioned they might revive the tin mill? Yeah, I believe that's the plans to revive the tin mill is definitely on the table. Yes, I think there is a big opportunity because the supply side is decreasing and also after the next administration started, he clearly mentioned that the tariff is going up, so I think there is a big chance for us to restart this tin plate mill and provide tin from Gary Works. That's our idea.
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Eddie Melton28:53
All right, we want to thank everybody. Yes, sir, you got one last question.
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Reporter28:58
Question, gentlemen. Obviously anytime there is certain discussions about these kinds of deals, there's obviously people who might be skeptical, who might be concerned about the security of their job. You both talk a little bit about that. What can you maybe detail a little further to people who may be concerned about their job security or anything else that might impact them directly? Is there anything you can share on that?
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Eddie Melton29:18
Well, I think we need to be concerned if this deal does not happen. The current CEO stated that there will be plant closures. Let's start there. So I think hopefully that message reaches the respective parties that help make a decision. And I believe Nippon has been very clear that they want to honor the contract, they want to honor the pension obligations of the workers as the legacy workers of US Steel. I don't know if there's anything else you want to add, Mr. Mori, but I believe that they've stated everything that they will be committed to do to protect and preserve the jobs.
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Reporter29:53
All right, thanks everybody. We're going to question Mr. Mori. In order to bring Blast Furnace 14 back online, what will that involve environmentally?
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Takahiro Mori30:03
Environmentally, the blast furnace when you bring it back online, well in a short time nothing changed because it's currently operating right. And we just want to make this lifetime extend this lifetime 20 years or something. And also during this 20 years, we are currently developing the technology for decarbonization and we are happy to bring this technology here in the United States and apply it to the blast furnace.
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Eddie Melton30:37
All right, thank you. Any interest in Chicago tin or just the Gary Works? Keep bringing you Chicago up. We can ask any questions after this. I want to thank everybody. We're getting ready to take a tour of the city of Gary. Thank all our elected officials that came out, thank all of our labor friends and family and all of the community leaders, and thank the media for coming to carry this important story. So thank you for coming out. Thank you very much.
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Takahiro Mori31:06
Thank you very much for the short time, but I have to go to close this deal. Thank you. Chicago? Any interest in the nation?