Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

When it comes to military and industrial policy, there is strength in numbers. A country with a lot of resources is better off than a country with few. Also, a country with many allied partners is better off than a country that goes it alone.

Throughout history, the United States has been blessed with natural resources. Rivers, minerals, fossil fuels. We have had everything we needed to build a massive industrial base. But even so, we have also built alliances to project and expand our strength.

However, we are now facing a new threat: China.

Beijing’s communist government has a long-range plan to displace the U.S. as the global industrial superpower. As the Wall Street Journal wrote recently, “In contrast with the early 2000s, when China was mostly manufacturing low-end goods, China today is competing against industries all over the world, whether steel, textiles or ceramics in emerging markets, or semiconductors, electric vehicles and other high-tech equipment in advanced economies.”

A key part of that plan is for China to become a major exporter of steel. Such exports are up by one-third this year alone, as the Chinese attempt to corner the market on yet another product, the same way they have dominated the manufacture of important items such as wind turbine blades and solar panels.

Here is where strong alliances can help protect us.

For more than 75 years, the U.S. and Japan have been close partners. We can strengthen that alliance and strengthen the state of our steel manufacturing industry with one simple step: allow Japan’s Nippon Steel to purchase the struggling company U.S. Steel.

Late last year, Nippon made an offer to acquire U.S. Steel. The price it is willing to pay is more than 40% above the expected price, so it is being generous to stockholders and employees alike. The Japanese company has vowed to keep the plants it buys open, here in the U.S. (it isn’t exactly easy to uproot a steel plant, anyway) and keep employing the skilled Americans who are already running them. It will also invest in modernizing the plants to make them more efficient and effective. It is a classic win-win for steelmaking on our shores. That is the way to protect against China’s attempts to dump steel here and put Americans out of business.

The Biden administration, though, is interfering with the sale.

The president opposes the Nippon merger. He wants U.S. Steel to remain “American-owned, American-operated by American union steelworkers,” he told an audience in Pittsburgh recently, “and that’s going to happen, I promise you.” His hope is to protect American jobs by imposing tariffs on Chinese steel.

This ignores the fact that steel tariffs have been in place for years now, and U.S. Steel has struggled throughout that time. It is clear they are not the answer. Even if they did work, tariffs are simply a form of tax. Imposing ever higher tariffs will make the cost of steel more expensive for all Americans, and thus drive up the cost of everything made with steel.

It is also worth noting that while the company is named “U.S. Steel,” there is not a nationalist component to the deal. China’s government controls its businesses; the American government does not. Reason magazine calls the bid “a mutually beneficial deal executed with the consent of U.S. Steel’s leaders.” The president has no cause to step in. Meanwhile, an alliance with a Japanese company can make both our countries stronger, economically and militarily.

“Our investment reaffirms the strength of the U.S. economy, the value of American employees, and the ability of the U.S. steel industry to compete globally,” Nippon’s Takahiro Mori wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “The U.S. and Japan benefit from an alliance that advances shared values, and our two companies can do the same.”

China will be the threat of the 21st century. America needs strong partnerships to resist that threat. We should welcome the support of the Japanese and Nippon’s investment in our domestic steel industry.

Greg Young is a disabled Veteran and host of the nationally syndicated Chosen Generation Radio Show which airs weekly on stations coast to coast. He served as a Russian Linguist during the Cold War in the United States Air Force. 

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Greg Young

Greg Young is host of the nationally syndicated Chosen Generation Radio Show which airs Monday through Friday on stations coast to coast. He served as a Russian Linguist at the USAF, discover more at chosengenerationradio.com.

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