Steel Mills

Cliffs, USW cite First Amendment in USS/Nippon litigation; seek case dismissal

February 5, 2025

Cleveland-Cliffs and the United Steelworkers (USW) want the lawsuits filed against them by U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel to be thrown out.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., its Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves, and USW International President David McCall filed motions this in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania week to dismiss the litigation.

Recall that USS and Nippon filed two lawsuits after former President Joe Biden blocked the companies’ merger. Biden’s move came after a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review highlighting the deal’s alleged threat to national security.

This week, U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel filed opening briefs in the first lawsuit against the US government.

The second lawsuit targets Cliffs, Goncalves, and McCall, claiming they illegally coordinated to undermine the USS/Nippon deal. This is the suit Cliffs and USW are seeking to have dismissed.

USS and Nippon allege that, by speaking out strongly against the merger, Goncalves and McCall and the USW, by extension, violated federal antitrust laws and Pennsylvania tort laws.

However, the union sees this differently: The suit is “a frivolous and unsubstantiated attack on our union simply for exercising our First Amendment rights,” it said on Wednesday.

In their suit brief, Cliffs and Goncalves also call for the case’s dismissal on First Amendment grounds. They also say the lawsuit lacks any direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Cleveland-based steelmaker and Pittsburgh-based union, as has been alleged by USS and Nippon.

“It is both our right and our responsibility to speak out against the kinds of mergers that U.S. Steel and Nippon were proposing – a sale that would have hurt both our members and our national security. This includes lobbying our elected officials at all level of government and is a fundamental protection for all Americans,” USW added.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.