The importance of knowing what you are getting into was illustrated Thursday in West Virginia.
That was when Cleveland-Cliffs announced the shuttering of a tin production facility in Weirton.
Cleveland-Cliffs is one of the largest producers of steel in the United States. It has plants across multiple states, including a coke works in Monessen.
The Weirton plant was acquired in a series of handoffs similar to a vicious game of Monopoly. Weirton Steel gave way to International Steel, then to European giant ArcelorMittal, before being sold off for parts to Cleveland-Cliffs.
In September, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., visited the Weirton plant with Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves, who called the visit “a clear demonstration that the United States will not forfeit its ability to produce tin plate.”
Still, the closing comes after the International Trade Commission voted against tariffs on Canadian, Chinese and German tin products. There will be layoffs of the 900 employees or transfers to another Cleveland-Cliffs location.
It isn’t the first. A Cleveland-Cliffs coke works closed just a few miles away in 2022.
Cleveland-Cliffs proposed a $7.3 billion purchase of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel in August. The United Steelworkers supported that.
Ultimately, that proposal collapsed. U.S. Steel is looking at purchase by Japan’s Nippon Steel for $14.9 billion instead. It’s a deal that has skepticism from people across the political spectrum for reasons from national security to local jobs.
The Weirton closing can make one wonder about a near miss. Would U.S. Steel plants be closed this way if the proposed sale to Cleveland-Cliffs had gone through?
It’s also a reminder that promises made during a sale or merger are like campaign promises: easily made, easily broken.
