Don’t Be Fooled by Politico Globalists Trying to Gaslight America: Japan’s Nippon Steel Still Has Ties to the CCP and Xinjiang

Without steel production, you don’t have a military. Without a military, you don’t have a country. As many know, Japanese state-funded steel manufacturer, Nippon Steel, is inching closer and closer to taking over one of our largest domestic steel manufacturers, U.S. Steel, on Joe Biden’s watch. Horizon Advisory, a research firm that assists businesses and government officials with strategic decision making, released a report in March 2024 on Nippon’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Xinjiang province—where a majority of Chinese forced labor camps are located—and how it would be a major national and economic security risk to allow a company like this to acquire U.S. Steel.

This week, Politico broke a story about how Horizon Advisory made revisions to their report and supposedly “walked back” their claims about Nippon’s questionable business relationships after receiving pushback from Nippon. This is the polar opposite of reality. The core findings of Horizon Advisory’s report still stand: Nippon Steel has ties to the CCP and Xinjiang province. And—Nippon is desperate to clear its name to get this deal done before President Trump, who actually will block the deal unlike President Biden, is elected in November.

“Material” National Security Risk vs. “Potential” National Security Risk

Politico attempted to claim that Horizon Advisory’s presentation of Nippon’s integration with China’s market as a national security threat was “tweaked” in the revised version of their report. News flash: changing one word in a statement is not “tweaking” its core meaning.  

For example, Horizon Advisory states in their revised report that Nippon’s exposure to the Chinese market “introduces a potential national security risk to the implications of potential Nippon ownership of U.S. Steel.” The original report stated that Nippon’s exposure to the Chinese market “introduces a material national security risk to the implications of potential Nippon ownership of U.S. Steel.” What’s the difference here, Politico? Either way, its bad news for America’s workers.

Additionally, the two reports both discuss how Nippon’s corporate filings mention how global market volatility in the steel industry is driven by the “supply/demand trend in China,” and how further entrenchment and dependence on the Chinese market is a national security risk for U.S. Steel. The original report states that because of this, Nippon ownership “will bring U.S. Steel into more—not less—dependence on China’s non-market economy.” The revised report states that Nippon ownership “could bring U.S. Steel into more—not-less—dependence on China’s nonmarket economy.”

Politico completely misleads its readers that the meaning of these statements have changed between reports. Both statements should ring alarm bells in the heads of U.S. Steel’s leadership especially when they’re on the brink of willingly exposing America’s steelworkers to our nastiest foreign adversary: China.

Both versions of Horizon Advisory’s reports also contain identical statements about how China is drawn into “close and frequent interaction with China’s steel industry,” and that Nippon maintains active joint ventures with a “range of Chinese state-backed steel champions.” If this is Politico’s description of Horizon Advisory “tamp[ing] down their risk assessment of the acquisition,” they must have blinders on.

Nippon Is Definitely Linked to China’s Slave Labor Province: Xinjiang

Politico discusses how Horizon Advisory’s revised report removed a quote from their original report that cited a 2019 Nippon Steel document that discloses Nippon’s links to several major Chinese steel and aluminum manufacturing companies. Although Horizon did not publicly state why they deleted the reference, both versions of the report still highlight the fact that Nippon has nine different facilities located in China which are partially owned by Chinese state-owned enterprises who are linked to Xinjiang.

For example, Nippon Steel’s hot dip galvanizing line facility in Shanghai is 50% owned by China’s Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd. Baoshan is a subsidiary of CCP state-owned enterprise Baosteel Group—now part of a consolidated group of steel companies called Baowu Group. Wuhan Iron and Steel Group (Corp.), described as a “state-owned giant” in China’s iron and steel industry, owns 50% of Nippon’s tinplate facility in Wuhan, named WISCO-NIPPON STEEL Tinplate Co., Ltd. or WINSteel. BaoSteel bought Wuhan Iron and Steel Group in 2016. Baosteel, which Baoshan and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group are both connected to, owns majority stake in a Chinese steel manufacturing company that operates directly out of Urumqi in Xinjiang province.

Additionally, although Nippon pushed back on the claim Horizon Advisory made in their original report about Nippon having offices directly located in Xinjiang, the revised report still maintains that “open-source materials suggest that Nippon may have had a presence in Xinjiang or that its supply chain and business partners introduce exposure to that region.” The revised report also highlights how Baosteel is a part of the CCP’s “Go West” campaign to “bring CCP industrial champions to Xinjiang.” Baosteel’s deep involvement in this campaign is also reflected in a 2023 Organization for Economic Development report on the steel market.

“Core Contributor” vs. “Contributor” to China’s State-Controlled Steel Sector

In reference to Nippon’s operations in China, Politico attempted to claim that a description of Nippon Steel as a “core” contributor to China’s steel sector was entirely “removed.” This is a straight up lie. The original report describes Nippon as a “core contributor to China’s tightly State-controlled steel sector” and that covers both the “upstream and downstream of Nippon’s core business” which touches every aspect of the CCP’s industrial policy. The revised report describes Nippon as a “contributor to China’s tightly State-controlled steel sector” covering both the “upstream and downstream” of Nippon’s core business. Again, Politico’s attempts at twisting facts for its readers miserably fails here.

Horizon Advisory gave no clear reason why they had made various changes to their original report other than responding to pushback from Nippon about what their exact presence in Xinjiang looks like. However, the locus of both reports still stands: Nippon is undoubtedly in bed with the CCP, and has twisted business relationships that seep into Xinjiang province. Politico should immediately retract its misleading story which sheds a false light on the national and economic security realities of a tragic deal like this going through.

S. Karol Paul has a background in trade and manufacturing policy and is a contributor to Peter Navarro’s Taking Back Trump’s America

Peter Navarro’s Substack account, including all individual article posts, are temporarily being handled and managed independently of him.

If you want to support Peter in his fight on behalf of our Constitution, unpaid subscribers can convert to paid, and paid subscribers can always try to share his posts with friends.