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Q Okay. Well, on domestic policy, then. On U.S. Steel, I know you and I spoke a little bit about that yesterday as well. The transaction is under review at CFIUS. You know, that process will sort of play out. And, really, Japan is an ally. So, what is really the national security concern here? I mean, is it Nippon’s business in China? What — and, you know, at the same time, the President is, of course, pledging that, you know, the company will stay in American hands. So, is he confident that a CFIUS review will come up with national security complications? And, if that happens, what is his concern primarily?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, let me just first say at the top — and you heard the President say this when he was making the announcement in Pittsburgh — that steel is the backbone of our economy. It’s the backbone of our national security. It helped build the middle class. You heard directly from this President. The CFIU- — CFIUS has its own process. I’m not going to get ahead of that.
And so, I’m going to just let that process go. I’m not going to get into hypotheticals. And we’ve said before that this — this is — looks like this is an action — an action for CFIUS to take on. And so, that is what’s — they’re going to d- — designed, obviously — they are designated to examine this. And so, we’re going to let that process be.
Q Is the White House telling CFIUS — is there sort of any kind of mandated timeframe they’re —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: They’re — they’re independent. They are independent body, and we’re going to let CFIUS —
Q So, how is the President —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — move their process.
Q — as confident as he is pledging that the company will remain in U.S. hands?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, you know, he believes — the President believes that U.S. Steel will remain an — American owned and American operated.
We’re going to let CFIUS run its operations, do its process. It is designated to do this process. I’m just not going to comment.
But he believes strongly on that, as you just stated in your question.
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Q And then just one last one, Karine. I know that Jake told us that he’s consulting with allies and partners on the Middle East issue. I was wondering: Has the administration had any conversation with China regarding the Middle East since last Saturday?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don’t have any- — anything to — to share beyond the readout that we had when the President spoke to President Xi. Outside of that, don’t have anything else.
All right. Thanks, everybody. Thank you.
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Source: The White House
Speaker: Karine Jean-Pierre, White House Press Secretary
Format: Press Briefing
China Policy Research 