President Biden announced today he would prohibit the sale of one of America's most iconic companies to a Japanese company.

In a statement, the president said that he would block Nippon Steel's purchase of U.S. steel because, quote,

a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority and is critical for resilient supply chains.

But the decision is controversial. Nick Schiffran is following the story for us today.

Omna, as you said, U.S. Steel is an iconic American brand founded by legendary business leaders

Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan in 1901. Its steel holds up the Empire State Building

and San Francisco Bay Bridge, and it helped build the American ships, tanks, and aircraft

that won World War II. In December 2023, Nippon Steel announced it would buy U.S. steel

for more than $14 billion and has recently promised to invest a billion dollars into U.S. Steel Mills.

But during the presidential campaign, both candidates opposed the deal.

A senior administration official told me today that the committee that reviews foreign

investments in the U.S. split, with the Treasury, defense, and state departments in favor of the

deal, but the U.S. trade representative opposed, sending the

decision to the White House, leading to today's decision. For perspective on that decision, we turn

to David Wessel, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, and Sheila Smith,

fellow for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Thanks very much to both of you. Welcome back to the

NewsHour. David Wessel, let me start with you. As I just said, the committee that reviews

investments in the United States, Dona Sipheus, split between the national security agencies

saying that they approve the deal and the U.S. trade representative saying that it opposed

this deal.

What does that say about today's decision?

Well, it's pretty striking because the only power the president had to block this deal

...