If I am Donald Trump, how am I going to rebuild the military if I have less steel and steeper costs for steel imports than my predecessor?

The bid by Japan's Nippon Steel to buy U.S. Steel may have a new lease on life after the Biden administration extended a deadline for the Japanese steelmaker to abandon plans to acquire the storied Pittsburgh company after President Joe Biden blocked the deal.

Activist investor Ancora Holdings has built a stake in U.S. Steel and wants the steelmaker to drop its merger agreement with Japan's Nippon Steel, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing sources.

The hearing for a lawsuit that Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel brought against U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is scheduled for February and March, Kyodo news agency reported on Monday, without citing sources.

Another Joe from Delaware—the one finishing up his final days in the White House—apparently sees himself in the same light, having stepped in to nix a $15 billion deal between U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel.

In these final actions of his presidency, Biden is asserting his domestic and foreign-policy principles before Trump takes charge.

What most sticks out about Biden’s trade legacy is just how little trade it involved. Instead, as we’ve documented here at Capitolism repeatedly, the era was one of U.S. stasis or outright retreat from the global stage. For example:

Last week, Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel filed two lawsuits after U.S. President Joe Biden blocked a $14.9 billion buyout of the American steelmaker by the Japanese firm. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Monday.

President Joe Biden on Jan. 3, 2025, issued a blocking order (the Order) addressing the proposed acquisition of United States Steel Corporation

The trial for Nippon Steel Corp.'s lawsuit seeking to nullify U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to block its $14.1 billion takeover

This comes after President Joe Biden recently blocked Japan-based Nippon Steel from buying U.S. Steel, calling it a national security threat. President-elect Donald Trump vowed to do the same

Japanese firms invested almost $800 billion in the United States in 2023, more than any other country, and 14.3% of the total, according to official U.S. data.