ArcelorMittal Nationalization: Despite the Vote of Deputies, Why the Future of the Steelmaker Remains Unclear

French MPs adopted a bill on Thursday aimed at nationalizing ArcelorMittal, the country’s largest steelmaker. The future of the text remains highly uncertain.

French deputies adopted a bill on Thursday, November 27, 2025 aimed at nationalizing ArcelorMittal France, the largest steelmaker in the country, against the advice of the government, in a context of great difficulty for this industry in France.

The future of the text is highly uncertain

The future of the bill from the La France insoumise party (LFI, radical left) is, however highly uncertain.

It will be difficult for the text to be adopted at second reading in the French Senate, dominated by the right and the center.

The steel giant announced this year savings measures in Europe and in particular a social plan in France, which will lead to job cuts estimated by the company at 270 jobs at the beginning of November.

The adopted proposal states that “the company ArcelorMittal France is nationalized”, and provides a mechanism to determine its value (quantified at three billion euros).

For LFI, nationalization is essential to fight against the social plan which affects ArcelorMittal’s French factories, as well as to quickly initiate the decarbonization of blast furnaces, otherwise the sector will be condemned by future European rules.

It’s about “the only solution” to save the sector and its 15,000 direct jobs, insisted Thursday the rapporteur of the text, Aurélie Trouvé.

The government is opposed to this bill

On the contrary, the government is against it, with French Industry Minister Sébastien Martin warning that the law would “weaken employment instead of protecting it”, and believing that the threat comes more from a “tsunami” of Asian steel.

In 2024, China alone manufactured 1,005 million tonnes of steel more than half of world production, far ahead of India (150 million), Japan (84 million) and the United States (79 million), according to the professional organization World Steel.

European countries, alongside, cannot keep up: 37 million tonnes for Germany, 20 million for Italy, 12 million for Spain and 11 million for France.

The text received the support of other left-wing groups: socialists, ecologists and communists. The National Rally (RN, far right) abstained. The government camp, little mobilized on Thursday, voted against.

Its examination in the National Assembly took place under the supervision of company employees, greeted in the spectators’ stands by the deputies.