By Kosaku Narioka

The U.S. government has extended until June a deadline for Nippon Steel to drop its planned acquisition of United States Steel.

The U.S. steelmaker said Saturday that a federal interagency panel charged with probing foreign investments for national-security risks had granted an extension to June 18 of the requirement in President Biden's executive order that the parties permanently abandon the transaction.

"We look forward to completing the transaction, which secures the best future for the American steel industry and all our stakeholders," U.S. Steel said in a statement.

President Biden blocked the sale of U.S. Steel to the Japanese steelmaker earlier this month, fulfilling his pledge to keep the U.S. steelmaker domestically owned.

Biden's decision came after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. spent months reviewing the $14.1 billion deal for potential national-security risks.

In an order on Jan. 3, the White House required the companies to abandon the deal within 30 days unless Cfius agrees to extend the timeline.

U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel filed a pair of lawsuits to challenge Biden's move to block the deal.

In one lawsuit the companies asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside the decision, claiming that election-year politics subverted a national-security review process. The companies want the appeals court to order a new national-security review of the deal.

A White House spokeswoman has said Biden's decision was based on national security and trade experts' determination that the deal would create risks to the U.S.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 12, 2025 21:15 ET (02:15 GMT)

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