Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reacts while attending a Labor Day campaign event, at IBEW Local Union #5 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 2, 2024.
Elizabeth Frantz Reuters
Vice President Kamala Harris used the appearance of the campaign together with President Joe Biden in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania on Monday to say that US Steel should remain domestically owned – concurring with the opposition of the White House which months to plan the sale of the company to Japan’s Nippon Steel.
His comments came during a rally before union members marked Labor Day in the industrial city of Pittsburgh, where Harris said US Steel is “a historic American company and it’s important to our country to keep strong American steel companies.”
“US Steel must remain American-owned and American-operated, and I will always have the back of America’s steelworkers,” he said.
It echoed Biden, who repeated Monday what he has said since March — he opposes selling U.S. Steel to Nippon, believing it would harm the country’s steelworkers. It also overlaps with former Republican President Donald Trump. It’s no surprise that Harris would agree with Biden on the issue, but it’s still a key policy position for the vice president, which has offered few people since Biden turned down his re-election bid and endorsed the vice president in July.
Biden took the stage first and was met with chants of “Thank you, Joe” as he and Harris performed at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall.
The president called Harris the only “rational” choice for president in November. He said choosing him as vice president was “the best” decision of his presidency and told union members that choosing him would be “the best decision you will ever make.”
Biden also started saying, “Me and Kamala Harris are going to build this” as if he was still running and she was his running mate – but he corrected himself. It underscores how the race has changed and how Harris is careful to balance himself as a “new way forward” while staying true to Biden and the policies he’s working on.
His delivery is very different — and in some cases he’s pushed to do it faster than the Biden administration — but his overall goal of expanding government programs to support the middle class is the same.
“We knew it was going to be a tight race until the end,” Harris told the Pittsburgh crowd.
The joint meeting with Biden was Harris’ second of the day and followed 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 shock six weeks ago.
Harris opened his solo Labor Day campaign with an event in Detroit, where hundreds of spectators wore bright yellow union shirts and “Union strong” signs. The vice president said “everyone in our country benefits” from the work of unions.
“Everywhere I go, I tell people, ‘Look, you might not be a union member, you better thank your union members,'” Harris said, noting that collective bargaining by organized labor helps securing a five-day work week, sick. pay and other major benefits and solidify safer working conditions.
“When unions are strong, America is strong,” he said.
Biden, 81, has spent his long political career forging close ties with organized labor. The White House said it asked to introduce Harris in Pittsburgh — rather than the other way around — because it wanted to highlight his record of supporting union workers.
In addition to fighting the Nippon steel sale, Biden has approved expanding tariffs on imported Chinese steel – another area of policy agreement with Trump, who has cheered steeper foreign tariffs on many imports. Still, in a statement on Friday, US Steel said it remains “committed to the transaction with Nippon Steel, which is the best deal for our employees, shareholders, communities, and customers.”
“The partnership with Nippon Steel, a long-time investor in the United States of America’s close ally Japan, will strengthen the American steel industry, American projects, and the American supply chain, and increase the competitiveness and resilience of the US steel industry against China,” the company said, which it is estimated that it employs nearly 4,000 people in Pennsylvania alone.
Nippon Steel responded to Harris’ comments by saying that “the acquisition of US Steel will revitalize America’s steel rust belt, benefiting American workers, local communities, and national security in ways no other alternative has.” The Harris campaign released a statement countering that sentiment from David McCall, president of the United steelworkers union, who said Harris’ opposition to the sale “once again makes it clear that he will remain a steelworker.”
Harris, 59, is seeking to appeal to voters by positioning himself as a break from former president Trump’s acerbic rhetoric while also looking to move beyond the Biden era. Harris’s show is a stark contrast to Biden’s, which usually features large crowds. But the vice president’s agenda includes the same issues he championed: limiting prescription drug costs, defending the Affordable Care Act, improving the economy, helping families pay for child care — and now his position on selling U.S. Steel.
The vice president has promised to cut grocery costs to help fight inflation. He moved faster than Biden in some cases, calling for the use of tax breaks and incentives to encourage homeownership and ending the federal tax on tips for service industry employees. But he also offered few specifics on key policies, rather than sticking with Biden on key issues.
Harris appeared on stage with Biden after the president addressed the opening night of the Democratic National Convention last month, but he has not shared a microphone at a political event since Biden himself opposed Trump. At that time, this campaign uses Harris mostly as its chief spokesperson for the right to abortion, an issue they believe can help them win in November as Limits grow and health care worsens for women after the fall of Roe v. Wade.
For more than 3½ years, Harris has been one of Biden’s main validators. Now the tables are turned, as Harris appears to be leaning on Biden – a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania – to help win a decisive state.
Although the vice president appeared more forceful when talking about the situation of civilians in Gaza, as Israel’s war against Hamas there has been almost 11 months, he also endorsed Biden’s efforts to support Israel and broker a hostage and cease-fire deal. Before leaving Washington for Detroit, Biden and Harris met in the White House Situation Room on Monday with the US hostage negotiation team.
“History will show us what we know: Joe Biden has been one of the most transformative presidents,” Harris said in Pittsburgh. “And we know Joe still has a lot of work to do.”
When the event ended, Biden and Harris returned to the airport together in the presidential limo. Air Force One and Air Force Two then took off at some point to return to the suburbs of Washington – although the president and vice president never travel on the same plane for government reasons, only in case of an air emergency.
