NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- Nippon Steel Corp. said Tuesday it "remains the only partner" for United States Steel Corp., vowing to continue pursuing its purchase despite White House opposition and the emergence of a rival offer from U.S. steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves on Monday expressed the company's interest in acquiring U.S. Steel at a press conference in Pennsylvania. He also attacked Japan as "evil," claiming that it taught China how to dump, build overcapacity and overproduce.

In response, Nippon Steel, whose $14.1 billion deal to take over U.S. Steel has been blocked by the Jan. 3 order from U.S. President Joe Biden, said in a statement that Goncalves "continues to persist with biased stereotypes, but what his words cannot mask is that he cannot match the scope and scale of our plan."

Goncalves made the comments after U.S. business news network CNBC reported Monday that Cleveland-Cliffs is considering purchasing 100 percent of U.S. Steel for cash and then selling one of its subsidiaries to rival Nucor Corp.

Cleveland-Cliffs' offer would be in the high $30s per share, far less than the prospective deal put forward by Nippon Steel at $55 per share, CNBC reported.

Cleveland-Cliffs also offered to buy U.S. Steel for $7 billion in 2023. U.S. Steel's market capitalization at the close of the market on Monday was $8.18 billion at a share price of $36.34.

"Nippon Steel remains the only partner for U.S. Steel that can keep the company intact and the blast furnaces running, protect jobs, and deliver the technology and investment so that it can successfully compete on the global stage," Nippon Steel said. "Our plan enjoys overwhelming support among those with the most at stake."

Reacting to Biden's order to block the takeover of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel on national security grounds, the companies filed two federal lawsuits seeking to protect their merger plan.

Goncalves is among the parties sued in one of the lawsuits. He, Cleveland-Cliffs and United Steelworkers union leader David McCall are accused of colluding to block the acquisition of U.S. Steel by any party other than Cleveland-Cliffs.

While Biden's order urged U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel to take all steps necessary to "fully and permanently" abandon the deal by Feb. 2, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a panel of U.S. federal agencies involved in screening the proposal, extended the deadline to June 18.