WL Ross & Co

A number of factors contributed to the demise of the steel industry in the United States. Along with the imports of less expensive steel, labor relations and lack of technological innovation plagued the industry.[5] By the 2000s, "hundreds of thousands of people employed by the American steel industry had lost jobs and benefits".[6]^:56

In February 2002, W.L. Ross & Co. had made an agreement to purchase the assets of bankrupt LTV Steel Corp for "$125 million in cash and $200 million in assumed liabilities."[7][8]^:56–7 After Ross acquired LTV, Ross's team approached [then-Commerce Secretary] Donald Evans when the George W. Bush White House seemed to be "looking to save thousands of jobs in the beleaguered [steel] industry."[9] Ross told New Yorker Magazine in a 2004 interview, "I had read the International Trade Commission report, and it seemed like it was going to happen. We talked to everyone in Washington."[3] They asked Evans about stiffer tariffs on Chinese steel as recommended by the International Trade Commission. In response to their inquiries about the possibility of "more protectionist measures", Evans replied, "absolutely".[9] Ross denied that he had benefited from "inside information from the US administration."[9] On March 5, 2002, when President Bush announced steel tariffs "of up to 30 percent on most imported steel, to be imposed for three years," he angered many trade partners. The United States trade representative, Robert B. Zoellick, explained that "domestic politics" was behind the tariffs.[10] By December 2003, the US faced with a trade war with the EU and Japan and the potential of the imposition of retaliatory sanctions worth $2.2bn, the Bush administration lifted the illegal tariffs on steel imports.[11] According to Forbes, the tariffs were intended to help the steel industry and to give a "political advantage" to the Bush administration" in "steel-industry states such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia."[12] Bush won with a narrow margin in West Virginia, a steel industry state which was a Democrat stronghold. In 2000, he had promised to "look out for steelworkers' interests."[11] According to Forbes, although the tariff was in effect only from March 2002 to December 2003, Ross benefited from the tariff as "the price of domestic steel [went] up 25% in that time."[13]

Ross purchased the assets of several steel companies—including the bankrupt steel maker LTV Steel Corp and formed the Cleveland, Ohio-based company International Steel Group (ISG) by combining LTV Corp., Acme Steel and Bethlehem Steel.[13] According to the New York Magazine, "between the tariffs, China’s suddenly insatiable demand for steel, and the U.S. automakers’ zero-percent financing push", the price of American steel "soared and Ross took ISG public in December 2003."[3] Eventually WL Ross & Co. LLC through ISG acquired Weirton Steel in April 2004, Acme Steel, Bethlehem Steel and Georgetown Steel.[9] In March 2003, when Cleveland, Ohio-based ISG agreed to purchase assets of the bankrupt Bethlehem Steel, with headquarters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, ISG was set to become the United States' "largest integrated steel company" with a "shipment capability of 16 million tons."[14] ISG had acquired Bethlehem Steel assets included including its six massive plants. Bethlehem Steel, which had been the second largest steel producer in the United States, had filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

Under Ross, the steel workers at LTV returned to work with "new work rules", and without their pensions. Instead they had 401(k)s.[3] When WL Ross acquired Bethlehem Steel, the steelworkers there accepted the same conditions.[3] By December 2003, Ross had the support of the local steelworkers union.[4][15][16]

On April 22, 2004 U.S. federal bankruptcy Judge L. Edward Friend II ruled that Ohio-based ISG could purchase Weirton Steel, a steel company with 3,000 employees for $237 million.[17] By court order, the assets were then auctioned with most being acquired by ISG. ISG formed a new division called ISG Weirton Steel.

In April 2005 WL Ross & Company sold International Steel Group—which by then was a Fortune 500 company and had acquired Bethlehem Steel, Weirton Steel, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Republican Steel, and LTV Steel"—[6]^:56 to Mittal for $4.5 billion, half in cash and half in stock.[9] Mittal merged with the "International Steel Group (ISG) which had acquired Bethlehem Steel, Weirton Steel, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Republican Steel, and LTV Steel in 2004."[6]^:56 Mittall's American subsidiary Mittall American Steel which was formed in April, 2005. The largest foreign company to acquire American steel companies is Luxembourg-based Mittal Steel which has been acquiring and merging with companies since 1989 under the tenure of President and CEO, Lakshmi Mittall. On February 25, 2005 Reuters reported that Mittal Steel, planned on cutting up to 45,000 jobs from 2005 to 2010.[6]^:56 In 2006, Mittal Steel completed a merger with Arcelor thus resulting in a new company known as Arcelor Mittal.

WL Ross & Co acquired Ross combines bankrupt Greensboro, North Carolina-based textile, companies Burlington Industries[18] and Cone Mills, to create the International Textile Group.[13] WL Ross & Co acquired Burlington Industries in November 2003, for about $614 million, making it a privately held company. In 2004, WL Ross was acquiring the assets of the bankrupt Cone Mills Corp. for $90 million.[18] In 2016 WL Ross & Co sold to the International Textile Group to the private equity firm Platinum Equity in 2016.[19] The Cone Denim mills are due to shut down on December 31, 2017.[20]

According to a 2005 Forbes article, Ross lobbied for "what became the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which cut 16 cents out of every dollar of apparel and textiles sent to the U.S."[13]