Harris opposes sale of US Steel to Japanese company at joint Pennsylvania event with Biden

PITTSBURGH – Vice President Kamala Harris took advantage of a joint campaign appearance with the president Joe Biden on Monday in a key swing state, Pennsylvania, to say that U.S. Steel should remain domestically owned — agreeing with the White House’s months-long opposition to planned sale of the company to Japanese Nippon Steel.

Her comments came at a rally before cheering union members celebrating Labor Day in the industrial city of Pittsburgh, where Harris said U.S. Steel is “a historic American company and it is critical for our country to keep American steel companies strong.”

“US Steel should remain an American company, under American control. I will always support American steel workers,” she said.

This follows Biden’s words, which he repeated on Monday what he has been saying since March – that he opposes the potential sale of US Steel. Japanbelieving that it would harm domestic steel mills. It also aligns with Republican former President Donald Trump.Not surprisingly, Harris agrees with Biden on this issue, but it is nonetheless a significant policy position from a vice president who has offered relatively few since his term. Biden Drops Re-election Run, Endorses Vice President in July.

Biden took the stage first, and when he and Harris arrived at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall, they were greeted with chants of “Thank you, Joe.”

The president called Harris the only “rational” choice for president in November. He said selecting her as vice president was the “best” decision of his presidency and told union members that selecting her would be “the best decision you’ll ever make.”

Biden also began saying, “Kamala Harris and I are going to build on this,” as if he were still running and she was his running mate — but he corrected himself. It underscored how much the race had changed and how Harris was carefully balancing presenting herself as “a new way forward” while remaining fiercely faithful to Biden and rules he pushed.

Her message is quite different — in some cases, she is forced to move faster than the Biden administration — but the overall goal of expanding government programs to support the middle class is the same.

“We know it’s going to be a tight race all the way to the end,” Harris told the Pittsburgh crowd.

The joint rally with Biden was Harris’ second of the day, following Pittsburgh’s Labor Day Parade, one of the largest in the country. It was their first joint appearance at a campaign event since the election shakeup six weeks ago.

Harris kicked off her Labor Day solo campaign at an event in Detroit, where hundreds of audience members wore radiant yellow union T-shirts and held up “Union Strong” signs. The vice president said that “every single person in our country has benefited” from the work of unions.

“Everywhere I go, I tell people, ‘Listen, you may not be a union member, but you should thank a union member,’” Harris said, noting that collective bargaining by organized labor has helped guarantee a five-day workweek, ailing pay and other key benefits, as well as entrench safer working conditions.

“When unions are strong, America is strong,” she said.

Biden, 81, has spent much of his long political career forging close ties with organized labor. The White House said it asked for Harris to be brought to Pittsburgh — rather than the usual reverse — because it wanted to highlight her history of supporting union workers.

In addition to opposing the sale of Nippon Steel, Biden supported tariff extension on imported Chinese steel – another area of ​​political agreement with Assetwho praised higher foreign tariffs on many imports. Still, in a statement Monday, U.S. Steel said it remains “committed to a transaction with Nippon Steel that is the best deal for our employees, shareholders, communities and customers.”

“This partnership with Nippon Steel, a long-time investor in the United States from our close ally Japan, will strengthen the U.S. steel industry, American jobs and American supply chains, and will make the U.S. steel industry more competitive and resilient to China,” the company said in a statement, noting that it employs nearly 4,000 people in Pennsylvania alone.

Nippon Steel responded to Harris’ comments by saying it was confident that “the acquisition of U.S. Steel would revitalize America’s steel rust belt, benefit American workers, local communities, and national security in ways no other alternative can.” Harris’ campaign issued a statement countering this sentiment from David McCall, president of the United Steelworkers union, who said Harris’ opposition to the sale “made it clear once again that she will always defend steel workers.”

Harris, 59, has sought to appeal to voters by positioning herself as a break from former President Trump’s acerbic rhetoric while also seeking to transcend the Biden era. Harris’ events have felt very different from Biden’s, which typically drew tiny crowds. But the vice president’s platform includes many of the same issues he championed: reducing prescription drug costs, defending the Affordable Care Act, growing the economy, helping families afford child care — and now her stance on the sale of U.S. Steel.

The vice president has promised to cut grocery costs to support combat inflation. In some cases, she has moved faster than Biden, calling for tax cuts and incentives to encourage homeownership and ending federal tip taxes on service-industry workers. But she has also offered relatively few details on major policies, instead continuing to side with Biden on the most critical issues.

Harris appeared on stage with Biden after the president spoke on the opening night of last month’s Democratic National Convention, but they haven’t shared a microphone at a political event since Biden himself ran against Trump. At the time, the campaign has used Harris primarily as its top abortion rights advocate, which they believe could support them win in November as restrictions grow and Healthcare gets worse in women after fall of Roe v. Wade.

For more than 3 1/2 years, Harris has been one of Biden’s top validators. Now, the tables have turned as Harris looks to lean on Biden — a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania — to support win a potentially decisive state.

While the vice president appeared more forceful in speaking out about the plight of civilians in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s war with Hamas nears its 11th month, she also backed Biden’s efforts to arm Israel and broker a hostage deal and ceasefire. Before leaving Washington for Detroit, Biden and Harris met in the White House Situation Room earlier Monday with the U.S. team negotiating the hostage deal.

“History will show what we know here: Joe Biden was one of the most transformational presidents,” Harris said in Pittsburgh. “And as we know, Joe still has a long way to go.”

When the event ended, Biden and Harris returned to the airport together in the presidential limousine. Air Force One and Air Force Two took off within moments of each other to return to the Washington suburbs — although the president and vice president never travel on the same plane for continuity of government reasons, in case of a plane crash.