In a highly unusual move, the Biden administration signaled last week that it would block a Japanese company from buying an iconic American company in a critical swing state.

Alan Rappeport, who covers the Treasury Department for The Times, discusses the politics that could doom the multibillion-dollar deal, and what it says about the new power of American labor.

Guest: Alan Rappeport, an economic policy reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• President Biden is expected to block Nippon Steel’s takeover of U.S. Steel.
• How swing-state politics are sinking a global steel deal.

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