Nippon Steel Finds Unlikely Ally Among Pittsburgh Workers

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have found agreement on one issue: opposing the $14.1 billion sale of U.S. Steel, one of America’s most storied corporations, to Nippon Steel of Japan.

Workers and officials in the Monongahela River valley towns where steel is still made, reportedly want U.S. Steel sold. I Photo: Nippon Steel

However, in the Monongahela River valley towns where steel is still made, workers and officials say the rhetoric is disconnected from what is happening on the ground. They want U.S. Steel sold, Kris Maher reported for The Wall Street Journal.

“I would bet that none of the national politicians have seen what I’ve seen or talked to these local workers,” said West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly, who works at a desk in his garage beside a plaque reading, “Hours: Anytime.”

His town’s U.S. Steel mill employs 800 workers who flatten glowing slabs of steel into sheet steel, which is then wound into giant coils. “This is nothing but politics,” he added.

The 123-year-old company’s potential sale looks different to many who battle blight and population loss after decades of plant closings, including by U.S. Steel.

Some say fears of foreign ownership are overblown and that the deal with deep-pocketed Nippon Steel offers the best chance to keep steel industry jobs in the region and prevent communities from being erased.

As Trump and Harris crisscross Pennsylvania, the nation’s biggest swing state, opposing the deal has come to signal their support for domestic manufacturing and concern for working-class voters.