Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF) CEO Lourenco Goncalves said on March 14, 2024 he would consider another bid for United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) likely worth no more than $30 per share if the latter's $14.1 billion deal with Nippon Steel Corporation (TSE:5401) falls apart. In an interview with Reuters, Goncalves said Cleveland-Cliffs, which last year was among the bidders for U.S. Steel, continued to have the backing of steel union United Steelworkers (USW) and that U.S. Steel's deal with Nippon Steel should be blocked because "Japan is not a friend" of the United States. "Japan in the steel trade is worse than China," said Goncalves.

"Japan continues to be a serial dumper of steel in the United States. I'm going to work to ensure the continuation of the same tariffs on Japanese steel trade because if we remove the tariffs, they will just hurt us." Goncalves' remarks came after U.S. President Joe Biden on March 14, 2024 raised concerns over Nippon Steel's takeover of the iconic 122-year-old U.S. steelmaker. Biden said it was important for the U.S. to maintain "strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers" and that it was vital for U.S. Steel "to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.?

Since Biden's remarks, U.S. Steel's shares have fallen more than 15%. The stock closed down more than 6% at $38.26 on March 14, 2024, far below the $55 per share price it agreed with Nippon Steel. The issue has the potential to overshadow an April 10 summit between Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida aimed at boosting the long-standing security alliance between their countries in the face of growing Chinese strength.

Nippon Steel has, so far, said it is confident of successfully completing the acquisition of U.S. Steel, despite the opposition it has faced from the USW and certain U.S. senators. In January, Nippon Steel President Eiji Hashimoto told reporters that "the deal poses no harm to America." If the all-cash deal with Nippon Steel were to fall apart, Cleveland-Cliffs may choose to bid for U.S. Steel again but may not offer more than $30 per share, Goncalves said. That would be at least a 45% discount to Nippon Steel's offer and substantially lower than Cleveland-Cliffs' earlier cash-and-stock bid that it valued at $54 a share in December.

"I would say that 30 bucks is a very good offer. Three zero. Not 35, not 34, not 33, not 31 but 30 rounded in an all-cash bid - that would be good enough for U.S. Steel," said Goncalves.

At $30 per share, U.S. Steel would be valued at $6.7 billion.