New board of directors at US Steel has US citizen majority
Nippon Steel announced the appointments on Thursday in a statement released jointly with US Steel.
The new directors are Retired Admiral Timothy J. Keating; former Lockheed Martin CEO Robert J. Stevens; and John M. Donovan, a former CEO of AT&T Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T.
Before the inclusion of the three, Dave Burritt, CEO of US Steel, was the only US citizen on the company's board. US citizens now make up a majority on the seven-member board, in accordance with a national security agreement.
Nippon Steel and US Steel entered into the agreement with the US government in June this year.
Under the deal, the US government will be issued a "golden share" in US Steel, allowing it to veto important management decisions such as the appointment of a board member.
Nippon Steel says the US government could replace one of the three independent US directors.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
5 hours ago
- Japan Times
With federal funds frozen, wealthy U.S. universities capitulate to Washington
As a growing number of the wealthiest U.S. colleges capitulate in their battles with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the strain from lost and frozen federal funding is putting pressure on the remaining holdouts to cut a deal. Universities targeted by Trump's crackdown on diversity programs and other policies he says show a liberal bias are essentially bleeding at the negotiating table after taking on debt, laying off hundreds of staff and slashing spending. As the fall semester approaches, they may be increasingly eager to ink accords that will stanch the flow. Cornell and Northwestern, both of which announced steps to address major budget shortfalls this year after the federal government suspended research funds, are now close to agreements with the White House. Brown, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania reached accords over the past month. But amid those settlements, new universities are being targeted. Most recently, the University of California at Los Angeles and Duke joined Harvard, Northwestern, Princeton and others in losing access to federal grants that are the financial lifeblood of large research institutions. It all adds up to an unprecedented pressure campaign that's roiling the world of higher education, reverberating through faculty, student and alumni groups and clouding the outlook for the type of medical and scientific research that takes place at the colleges. The multitrillion-dollar tax law signed last month also hikes the tax on income from endowments for some of the wealthiest private schools. As the Trump administration gains leverage, colleges' bruised budgets could drive them toward making agreements quicker. "It seems like they want to get deals done now,' said Brendan Cantwell, a professor at Michigan State University who focuses on the political economy of higher education. "It's almost like a dam is broken. I would not be at all surprised if we saw a cascading set of agreements.' The Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 2 | Sophie Park / The New York Times Federal funding has been used as a cudgel by the Trump administration, which has criticized what it says is a failure by academic institutions to crack down on antisemitism during campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza. The moves also come amid a broader campaign against diversity efforts and accusations of political bias. The fallout has already started. Northwestern said it would cut more than 400 jobs to save 5% on labor costs, with university officials calling the past few months some of the most difficult in its 174-year history. The Trump administration in April paused $790 million in research funding for the Evanston, Illinois-based school because of claimed potential civil rights violations. At Cornell, leaders in June warned that drastic financial austerity measures were on the table after hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research contracts were terminated or frozen. "The spring semester was unlike anything ever seen in higher education,' they wrote in a letter to students and staff. "We have been using institutional resources to try to plug these funding holes in the short term, but these interim measures are not sustainable.' Late last month, the government froze $108 million in research funding to Duke University, or about 20% of its federal revenue, three Trump administration officials said. Duke is in talks with government officials on a settlement, according to an administration official. Duke's press office didn't provide a comment on the funding loss or the status of government talks. A Duke official, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations, said the school is reconsidering its budget amid the funding loss, but that it hopes an end to the freeze will come soon. Cornell and Northwestern have declined to comment on any settlement talks. On July 23, Columbia University agreed to pay $221 million in a deal that was promptly criticized for infringing on academic freedom at the school. Brown announced a deal on July 30, agreeing to give $50 million over 10 years to workforce development organizations in its home state of Rhode Island in exchange for the reimbursement of at least $50 million in unpaid federal grants. Shortly before reaching the deal, Brown took out a $500 million loan — a sign of how strained the school's finances had become. Brown, the least wealthy of the Ivy League schools with an endowment of $7.2 billion, had previously warned in June of "significant' cost-cutting measures to offset the federal funding. U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on July 30 | REUTERS The Trump administration's higher-education crackdown has exposed just how dependent some of the elite, research-focused universities are on the government. They're essentially "major federal contractors' and stopping the stream would be catastrophic for many of them, according to Cantwell. "Think about Booz Allen or Raytheon,' Cantwell said. "If they said, 'All your federal funding will be frozen for 9 months,' you can imagine how those firms might react.' The Trump administration has dealt a harsher financial blow to Harvard than any other university in its crosshairs, freezing billions of multiyear research grants and contracts. The school estimates that the moves by the administration, as well as the endowment tax increase, will cost about $1 billion annually. Harvard's Kennedy School already cut staff. "The unprecedented challenges we face have led to disruptive changes, painful layoffs, and ongoing uncertainty about the future,' Harvard President Alan M. Garber said in a letter to the campus. Garber has told faculty that a settlement with the government isn't imminent and the university is considering resolving its dispute through the courts, the Harvard Crimson reported Monday. Larry Ladd, who served as Harvard's budget director and now advises schools at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, said he can't criticize any college for coming to a deal with the Trump administration given what's at stake for their campuses. "Schools are likely facing pressure to use endowment and tuition revenue, which are typically used to support students, to support some of their research enterprise instead,' Ladd said. "They don't want to do that because they want to continue to support students. There's that pressure as well.' Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, said campus leaders are being put in an "untenable position' and worries that federal funds will continue to be weaponized by the Trump administration, even if schools make deals. "The concern is the more we capitulate through making these agreements, the more the administration will be empowered to continue along these lines,' she said.
Japan Times
6 hours ago
- Japan Times
Bain's Japanese plane seat-maker sees U.S. hub as shelter from Trump tariffs
A newly acquired Bain Capital company in Japan that makes airplane seats, toilets and galleys is betting its U.S.-based manufacturing hub will give it an advantage under President Donald Trump's tariff regime. Armed with private equity cash, Jamco's new management is rebooting its aircraft seat business, chasing market share from rivals RTX's Collins Aerospace and France's Safran, Executive Chair Kate Schaefer said in an interview. Supply chain issues that have seen wait times for cabin fittings blow out to as long as three years — forcing the likes of Delta Air Lines and American Airlines to ground newly delivered jets as they await seats — also present an opportunity to fill, Schaefer said. "Right now with everything that's going on with tariffs, it appears to be an advantage in manufacturing and assembling these seats in the U.S.,' she said. The company is also promising to deliver products in as little as six months. Jamco's main production line is located near Boeing's largest assembly line in Everett, just outside Seattle. The U.S. has rolled out a raft of tariffs on global trading partners, with Japanese and European Union goods being levied at 15%, and up to 25% for India and 39% for Switzerland. Across the industry, carriers from Singapore Airlines to British Airways are spending hundreds of millions of dollars revamping seats as they upgrade cabins to lure more high-end travelers. Jamco plans to focus on higher-margin first-class and business seats, which can cost from $80,000 to $160,000 each depending on materials used and the level of customization required. Jamco's seat-making business struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic as global travel bans and border closures hammered the aviation industry. It paused research and development during the pandemic, but is restarting that under new management. Schaefer said the business has a slim order book but a factory and a workforce ready to go. Previously, Jamco counted the likes of Singapore Airlines and Dutch carrier KLM as top customers for its seats. Its other business units continue to make components and equipment such as galleys for Boeing and Airbus jets. Jamco was bought by Bain in a $700 million buyout earlier this year. Like Virgin Australia Holdings, which delivered Bain a 3.5 times' return on its initial investment when it listed the airline in June, the private equity firm says it aims to pursue an initial public offering of Jamco in a five-year time frame. Bain is also actively looking for smaller complementary acquisitions to expand on Jamco's current line of work. Bain's Tokyo-based leadership who led the deal, Masa Suekane and Nick Gattas, sees Jamco as a "bet on the industry,' bolstered by the decadelong waiting list for new planes. Jamco aims to take advantage of the challenging ramp-up in wide-body production by Boeing and Airbus as an "attractive' five-year window to win new business.
Japan Times
9 hours ago
- Japan Times
Trump again threatens India with harsh tariffs over Russian oil purchases
U.S. President Donald Trump again threatened on Monday to raise tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases, while New Delhi called his attack "unjustified" and vowed to protect its economic interests, deepening the trade rift between the two countries. In a social media post, Trump wrote, "India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine." "Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA," he added. A spokesperson for India's foreign ministry said in response that India will "take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security." "The targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable," the spokesperson added. Trump has said that from Friday he will impose new sanctions on Russia as well as on countries that buy its energy exports, unless Moscow takes steps to end its 3½ year war with Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no public sign of altering his stance despite the deadline. Over the weekend, two Indian government sources said that India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite Trump's threats. India has faced pressure from the West to distance itself from Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. New Delhi has resisted, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and economic needs. Trump had already in July announced 25% tariffs on Indian imports, and U.S. officials have cited a range of geopolitical issues standing in the way of a U.S.-India trade accord. Trump has also cast the wider BRICS group of developing nations as hostile to the United States. Those nations have dismissed his accusation, saying the group promotes the interests of its members and of developing countries at large. India is the biggest buyer of seaborne crude from Russia, importing about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil from January to June this year, up 1% from a year ago, according to data provided by trade sources. India began importing oil from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, the Indian spokesperson said, calling it a "necessity compelled by global market situation." The spokesperson also noted the West's, particularly the European Union's, bilateral trade with Russia. "It is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia." Despite the Indian government's defiance, the country's main refiners paused buying Russian oil last week, sources said. Discounts to other suppliers narrowed after Trump threatened hefty tariffs on countries that make any such purchases. Indian government officials denied any policy change. The country's largest refiner, Indian Oil Corp., has bought 7 million barrels of crude from the United States, Canada and the Middle East, four trade sources said on Monday. India also has been frustrated by Trump repeatedly taking credit for an India-Pakistan ceasefire that he announced on social media in May, which halted days of hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors. The unpredictability of the Trump administration creates a challenge for Delhi, said Richard Rossow, head of the India program at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies. "India's continued energy and defense purchases from Russia presents a larger challenge, where India does not feel it can predict how the Trump administration will approach Russia from month to month," he said.
