Commentary: Japan has learnt a hard lesson about US friendship
LINES HAVE BEEN CROSSED
From the outset, Nippon Steel’s bet has been painted as frightening: In the early phases, US senators gasped that its allegiances” evidently stay with a foreign state”, then another objections followed.
Donald Trump has said he will quickly halt the deal if he wins, while Kamala Harris has said US Steel may be” American owned and American operated.”
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which examines foreign buyers for threats to national security, came to the conclusion that Nippon Steel did certainly cause these risks. Neither the state department nor Pentagon shared that watch, but election elections, as some experience Nippon may have foreseen, following a howling logic.
Significant lines have been crossed on the US side throughout Nippon’s various efforts to overcome these obstacles, crossings that cavalierly question Japan’s position as America’s closest ally in Asia and among its best in the world.
This questioning of a Japanese company’s- and by association, Japan’s- trustworthiness as an owner of US assets are, at best, awkwardly timed. They are a gift to the nations that the US and its allies view themselves as being resentful of.