Biden Decision on US Steel Deal Followed Divide in His Orbit
- President rejected sale over national security concerns
- Cabinet officials, arbitrage traders and mayors engaged
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Two weeks after the US election, hundreds of allies gathered at the White House to soothe Joe Biden in defeat. Tracking the closed-door bash for clues was a group rarely interested in the routine preening of Washington: arbitrage traders.
The traders, who buy and sell the stock of companies in the middle of mergers and acquisitions, and investors were hanging on every event for a clue to the fate of the sale of United States Steel Corp., a hallowed but humbled American giant, to Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp. And the deal’s key opponent, steelworkers union chief David McCall, was at the party. Would McCall meet Biden? Did the party offer an elaborate cover?