President Biden's decision to block the sale of United States Steel to the Japanese company Nippon Steel is a “back to the future” moment in American politics.

The move is a victory for forces in the Democratic Party who want to turn back the clock to a time before the party endorsed free trade and globalization. It also echoes what another Democratic president, Harry Truman, did 70 years ago when he seized steel mills in this country. Like Biden, Truman acted in the name of national security.

Nippon first made its bid in December 2023. It wanted to invest in the United States because of Biden’s “use of tax incentives and subsidies to spur domestic production. Buying U.S. Steel… would enable it to capitalize on the U.S. industrial rebound.”

The proposed purchase of U.S. Steel by a foreign company also signified the declining fortunes of America’s industrial giants. U.S. Steel, as the Washington Post notes, “boasts an impressive history: It was the nation’s first billion-dollar corporation, was formed by industrial heroes including John D. Rockefeller and provided the raw material that helped win World War II.”

But, the Post explains, “it no longer is the industrial titan it once was.” Today it employs “half as many workers as it did 20 years ago and has lost money in nine of the past 15 years.”

At one time, the Nippon deal would have been welcomed, especially by leaders of the Democratic Party. It would have been regarded as a natural and healthy sign of a well-functioning global economic market.

But no more.

In light of Donald Trump’s November victory, some commentators have been encouraging “Democrats and those on the left … (to) start acting more like Republicans, the MAGA movement especially.” At the heart of such an “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” approach

© The Hill