NEW YORK -- At the center of the legal battle over Nippon Steel's planned purchase of U.S. Steel is a pair of strong personalities: Eiji Hashimoto, the Nippon Steel CEO who once sued key customer Toyota Motor, and Lourenco Goncalves, the blunt-spoken CEO of rival steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs.
The Japanese steelmaker, along with U.S. Steel, filed a lawsuit on Jan. 6 against the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. as well as then-President Joe Biden and other officials, arguing political considerations played a part in Biden's executive order to block the deal. Hearings are set to begin Feb. 3.
