Sawt Falasteen - Blinken says US-Japan ties rock solid despite rift over steel deal

Business groups say the decision could have a chilling effect on Japan's standing as the biggest foreign investor in the United States, just as Washington seeks closer ties with Tokyo to counter China.

With two weeks left before president-elect Donald Trump takes over and Blinken is slated to be replaced by Marco Rubio, the top US diplomat noted that he also came to Japan on his first trip in 2021.

The visits show "not just the importance, the centrality, the United States attaches to our alliance", Blinken said as he met Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya.

"This allyship, I believe, it's actually stronger than it's ever been," Blinken said.

Pointing to the need to coordinate after North Korea's launch of a missile Monday -- while he was in South Korea -- Blinken said: "Even though we're in a political transition, the world doesn't stop."

Blinken also cited the strength of economic ties but made no direct mention of Biden's decision last week to block Nippon Steel's $14.9-billion takeover of long-struggling US Steel, citing national security concerns.

In response, the two companies filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Biden administration's "illegal interference" in the transaction.

"We're certain the lawsuit will reveal a set of facts that clearly violate the constitution and the law, so I believe we have a chance of winning," Nippon Steel chair Eiji Hashimoto said on Tuesday.

Trump, who takes office on January 20, "wants to make manufacturing strong again, and once again enrich the lives and future of manufacturing workers", Hashimoto added.

"This is exactly in line with what we're doing."

- Investment 'concerns' -

Nippon Steel had touted the takeover as a lifeline for a US company long past its heyday but opponents warned that the Japanese owners would slash jobs.

Biden had criticised the deal for months, while holding off on a move that could hurt ties with Tokyo.

Japan and the United States are each other's top foreign investors, with Japanese firms investing almost $800 billion in the United States in 2023.

In their suit, US and Nippon Steel argued that Biden had blocked the deal for purely political reasons by ignoring the rule of law to gain favour with workers' unions.

Blinken had a sushi breakfast at a famous fish market on Tuesday and will later meet Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who said on Monday the United States should "explain clearly" the security concerns cited by Biden.

"There are concerns being raised within Japan's industrial world over future Japan-US investment," Ishiba warned in unusually outspoken comments.

Protectionism is expected to intensify under Trump, who in his last term exited a nascent Pacific-wide trade pact and has vowed to use tariffs to protect US industry.

Blinken had been in Seoul in part to push to preserve three-way cooperation by the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol has pushed to turn the page on historical tension with Japan, but he was impeached after he stunned South Korea last month with a failed attempt to impose martial law.

"It's in the strategic interest of each of our countries not just to sustain this trilateral cooperation, but to grow it in the years ahead," Blinken told reporters in Seoul.

W.Mansour--SF-PST