Steel workers at U.S. Steel Granite City Works in Granite City, Illinois, U.S., May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Lawrence Bryant/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 23 (Reuters) - Privately held steel company Esmark said on Wednesday it would not participate in the purchase process for U.S. Steel Corp (X.N) and respect the position of the United Steel Workers (USW) union, which is supporting Cleveland-Cliffs' (CLF.N) offer. Last week, Esmark made an offer to buy U.S. Steel for $35 per share, or an equity value of $7.8 billion. Esmark's exit leaves Arcelor-Mittal (MT.LU) as the only known potential challenger to Cleveland-Cliffs, which went public with its bid for U.S. Steel earlier in August. However, U.S. Steel last week said its labor agreement with USW does not afford the union the right to veto a sale of the company.

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Persons: Lawrence Bryant, Esmark, ”, Jim Bouchard, Pratyush Thakur, Maju Samuel Organizations: U.S . Steel, U.S . Steel Granite City, REUTERS, . Steel Corp, United Steel Workers, Steel, U.S, USW, Thomson Locations: U.S . Steel Granite, Granite City , Illinois, U.S, Cleveland, Bengaluru