Nippon Steel, U.S. Steel, and the Implications for US-Japan Relations
Friday Nov 15, 2024
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Furman 210 and on Zoom
About the event
Nippon Steel’s planned purchase of former giant U.S. Steel is currently the most important and controversial topic in US-Japan economic relations. Regardless of whether the purchase is ultimately allowed to proceed, the public opposition from leaders of both American parties raises important questions for the future. What effect could this have on other Japanese FDI into the US and broader US-Japan cooperation? Is there a risk of reciprocity when US companies seek to make acquisitions in Japan? To what extent does it represent a significant broadening of the definition of “national security” against the background trend of de-globalization and the reshoring of supply chains? William Chou, deputy director of the Japan Center at the Hudson Institute, and Hiroyuki Nishimura of Nikkei will put the Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel acquisition in context in a panel discussion with NYU Law Adjunct Professor Bruce Aronson and NYU Law Professor Jose Alvarez (moderating).
About the speakers:
William Chou is deputy director of Hudson Institute's Japan Chair. His work at Hudson focuses on US-Japan relations and the Indo-Pacific, with an emphasis on regional partnerships, defense innovation, trade, and technology. His forthcoming book, Made for America: Postwar Japanese Exports and the Evolution of US-Japanese Relations, examines US-Japanese security, business, and cultural relations from the perspective of Japanese commercial trade. Dr. Chou was most recently the George P. Shultz Fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute. Prior to that, he was an America in the World Consortium fellow at the Clements Center at University of Texas at Austin. He previously worked as a researcher at the US Army's Center for Military History and the Institute for Defense Analyses, focusing on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, intelligence integration, defense planning, and counterterrorism.
Hiroyuki Nishimura has covered extensive topics including monetary policy, finance, markets, the global economy, trade, and economic diplomacy. He was formerly the News Editor for Nikkei Asian Review and the Chief New York Correspondent. In 2018, He was awarded the Bronze prize in the category of newspaper feature article from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers for his coverage of foreign students and undocumented immigrants in the U.S. under President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policy. Mr. Nishimura has coauthored many books in the field of economy, the latest of which is the 2019 book on Facebook's Libra. He also anchors a TV news show at BS TV TOKYO.
Bruce Aronson is senior advisor at the Japan Center of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute and an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law. He has been a tenured professor of law at universities in the United States (Creighton University) and Japan (Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo). Before beginning his academic career, he was a corporate partner at the law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP in New York. He also served as an independent director at Eisai Co., Ltd., a listed Japanese pharmaceutical company. Professor Aronson twice received Fulbright grants to be a senior research scholar at the University of Tokyo and at Waseda University, and was a visiting scholar at the Bank of Japan. His main area of research is comparative corporate governance with a focus on Japan and Asia. Publications include a textbook, Corporate Governance in Asia: A Comparative Approach (with J. Kim, Cambridge University Press, 2019).
About the moderator:
José E. Alvarez is the Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law at New York University School of Law and the faculty director of USALI. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Institut de Droit International, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a former president of the American Society of International Law and previous co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law. He teaches courses on international law, foreign investment, and international organizations. His more than 140 articles and book chapters and six books have made substantial scholarly contributions to a wide range of subjects within international law, including the law-generating rules of international organizations, the challenges facing international criminal tribunals, the boundaries between “public” and private,” and the legitimacy issues surrounding the international investment regime. His most recent books include The Impact of International Organizations on International Law (2017) (originating from his General Course offered at the Xiamen Academy of International Law), International Investment Law (2017), and The Boundaries of Investment Arbitration (2018).