Harris Says Keeping US Steel Domestic ‘Most Important’ Over Jobs

(Bloomberg) — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said keeping domestic control of steel production was more important than possible job losses if a proposed deal for Nippon Steel Corp., a Japanese company, to purchase United States Steel Corp. fell through.

Most Read from Bloomberg

“It’s most important that we maintain America’s ability to have American manufacturing of steel by American workers,” Harris said Wednesday in an interview with MSNBC, when asked which concern weighed more heavily in her consideration of the deal.

US Steel Chief Executive Officer David Burritt told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that the company would likely have to close plants and move its headquarters from Pittsburgh if the $14.1 billion deal wasn’t consummated.

But Harris said that her economic policy platform, which she detailed earlier in the day at a speech in Pittsburgh, included investing in emerging sectors including bio-manufacturing, aerospace, artificial intelligence, blockchain and nuclear energy. All of those would require “manufacturing of steel as a fundamental part of what it accomplishes,” she said.

“An American company manufacturing that steel for those new industries is going to be critically important, not only in terms of our economy, but also in the context of national security,” Harris continued.

While Harris had previously signaled her opposition to the Nippon Steel purchase, her comments Wednesday represented some of the most detailed rationale yet provided by the Biden administration. Harris met with steel workers — whose union has opposed the acquisition — during her trip to Pittsburgh.

Earlier in the day, an arbitration panel sided with US Steel in a dispute with union workers over whether the proposed deal would breach labor agreements.

While that clears one obstacle for the potential deal, others remain – including a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

While Nippon Steel was allowed to refile its request to the panel earlier this month — likely pushing a decision on the takeover past the US election — President Joe Biden and Harris’ Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, have both expressed their own opposition to the deal.

–With assistance from Jennifer Epstein.

Story continues

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.