Vice President Kamala Harris announced Monday her opposition to a Japanese company’s purchase of U.S. Steel. In her her Labor Day pitch to union workers in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, she said her opposition is based on economic and national-security grounds.
At a campaign rally in Pittsburgh, where U.S. Steel is headquartered, Harris voiced her opposition to Nippon Steel’s pending purchase of the famous American steel manufacturer. Her stance is a continuation of President Joe Biden’s policy on the issue.
“We will continue to strengthen America’s manufacturing sector,” Harris said. “U.S. Steel is an historic American company, and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies. And I couldn’t agree more with President Biden: U.S. Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated. And I will always have the back of America’s steelworkers and all of America’s workers.”
Biden introduced Harris at the Pittsburgh rally over a month after he dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed her to run atop the Democratic ticket.
“I’ll be on the sidelines, but I’ll do everything I can to help,” Biden said.
Harris was widely expected to announce her position on the U.S. Steel purchase ahead of her Pittsburgh stop Monday afternoon. She visited Detroit earlier in the day for another campaign stop devoted to reaching American workers and touting her support for unions.
Nippon Steel’s $15 billion purchase requires approval from the Justice Department on antitrust grounds and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency panel that reviews the national-security implications of foreign acquisitions. Harris did not say specifically what she would do to block the U.S. Steel purchase.
“We remain committed to the transaction with Nippon Steel, which is the best deal for our employees, shareholders, communities, and customers,” U.S. Steel told National Review in a statement. “The partnership with Nippon Steel, a long-standing investor in the United States from our close ally Japan, will strengthen the American steel industry, American jobs, and American supply chains, and enhance the U.S. steel industry’s competitiveness and resilience against China.”
Supporters of Nippon Steel’s purchase believe that it will help U.S. Steel’s shareholders and workers by maintaining high-paying union jobs, lowering steel prices, increasing competition, and promoting greater investment in American steel manufacturing — and that it will not present a serious national-security threat, given America’s strong alliance with Japan. If the deal goes through, Nippon Steel has promised to maintain the U.S. Steel name and Pittsburgh headquarters.
“We’re confident that Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U. S. Steel will revitalize the American steel rust belt, benefit American workers, local communities, and national security in a way no other alternative can,” Nippon Steel said in a statement to National Review.
“The significant investment and technological innovation we plan to bring to the company, including the recently announced game-changing $1.3 billion commitment to Mon Valley Works and Gary Works to significantly extend their operational lives, will strengthen the domestic steel industry and grow jobs,” the statement continues.
“Simply put, U.S. Steel and the entire American steel industry will be on much stronger footing because of Nippon Steel’s investment in U. S. Steel – an investment that Nippon Steel is the only willing and able party to do so. We believe that a fair and objective regulatory review process will support this outcome, and we look forward to closing the transaction as soon as possible.”
The United Steel Workers, a powerful labor union with a large Rust Belt presence, opposes the Nippon Steel purchase and has endorsed Harris’s presidential campaign. The left-wing union previously endorsed Biden’s presidential campaign when Harris was his running mate.
Some conservatives have sided with Democrats and the United Steel Workers in opposing the U.S. Steel deal, contending that it harms workers and goes against American interests. Former president Donald Trump, Harris’s 2024 GOP rival, said in January that he would block the U.S. Steel sale after Nippon Steel’s acquisition was announced a month prior.
“I would block it instantaneously. Absolutely,” Trump said. “We saved the steel industry. Now U.S. Steel is being bought by Japan. So terrible.”
Senator J. D. Vance (R., Ohio), Trump’s running mate, joined a bipartisan group of senators who cited national-security grounds as a reason they oppose the Nippon Steel acquisition.
Blue-collar workers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin are a crucial voting bloc for the 2024 presidential election, and both parties are hoping to court them from now until November. Trump and Vance did not have any public campaign events on Labor Day.
The Biden administration has largely maintained the Trump administration’s tariff regime on a range of goods, and it has expanded tariffs in certain strategic sectors. Trump is promising more tariffs if he wins in November, with a focus on imports from China.