Word: steel
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...banquet not held in an embassy or a government hall. During his 1975 state visit, for example President Gerald Ford gave a Chinese banquet in Peking's Great Hall of the People. The Reagans instead chose the newly completed Great Wall Hotel. A 1,007-room glass-and-steel high-rise jointly built by Chinese and American developers, the hotel is a symbol of China's growing Western ties and its quest for modernization...
...fierce competition between American and Japanese companies, some longtime rivals are suddenly becoming partners. General Motors received final Government approval last month for a joint venture with Toyota to produce small cars in California. Last week the Japanese gained a major stake in another huge U.S. industry: steel. Pittsburgh's National Intergroup agreed to sell a 50% interest in its National Steel subsidiary to Nippon Kokan, Japan's second-largest steelmaker, for $292 million...
National Intergroup, a diversified company that owns a savings-and-loan network besides being the seventh-largest U.S. steelmaker, appeared ready to leave the slumping steel business only three months ago. At the time, it agreed to sell its steel operations for $575 million to U.S. Steel, the industry's leader. But that deal collapsed in March because of antitrust problems in Washington. Says National Chairman Howard Love: "Our original intent was not to get out of steel, but to find a world-class partner who would allow us to stay in it very successfully...
Nippon Kokan was just the kind of partner Love had in mind. Its modern plants are renowned for their high level of automation and computerized controls. Love will remain as chairman of the jointly owned company, which will keep the name National Steel. Nippon Kokan will provide executives and engineers to help streamline the firm's production and improve quality control. National already has highly efficient plants, and the addition of Japanese technology should make the company even stronger...
National first approached Nippon Kokan about a joint venture last July. Love knew that the Japanese company wanted a beachhead in the U.S. In 1979 Nippon Kokan considered buying plants from Kaiser Steel, but backed out after deciding that the facilities were outdated. Last year the Japanese firm broke off negotiations to buy Ford's Rouge Steel unit, mainly because the United Auto Workers would not make wage concessions. This time Nippon Kokan did not insist on a new contract with National's steelworkers, though they make an average of $21 an hour in wages and benefits, compared...