Harris to oppose sale of U.S. Steel to a Japanese firm during Pittsburgh event

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to use Monday’s joint campaign appearance with President Biden in the industrial city of Pittsburgh to say that U.S. Steel should remain domestically owned — coinciding with the White House’s earlier opposition to the company’s planned sale to Nippon Steel of Japan.

Harris “is expected to say that U.S. Steel should remain domestically owned and operated and stress her commitment to always have the backs of American steel workers,” a campaign official said. This continues Mr. Biden’s stance made in spring, when he opposed the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan, saying American steel companies should be powered by American workers. 

“U.S. Steel has been an iconic American company for more than a century and it should remain a totally American company,” Mr. Biden said during an April visit to the United Steelworkers headquarters. “American-owned, American-operated by American union steelworkers, the best in the world. And that’s going to happen. I promise you.” 

The agreement for Nippon to buy U.S. Steel was reached in December. In May, U.S. Steel said their merger is expected to be completed in the “second half of 2024, subject to the fulfillment of the remaining, customary closing conditions, including the receipt of required U.S. regulatory approvals.”

Mr. Biden and Harris are set to attend Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade.

Harris’ impending announcement about the sale constitutes a major policy position for the vice president, who has offered relatively few policy positions since Mr. Biden abandoned his reelection bid and endorsed Harris in July. The vice president has offered little in the way of specific policy proposals, sticking instead to broad brush economic visions. 

In her campaign’s opening weeks, Harris has been careful to balance presenting herself as “a new way forward” while remaining loyal to Mr. Biden and the policies he has pushed. It’s a delicate position at times for Harris, who as vice president has also been responsible for the Biden administration’s policies the last four years. 

Harris’ team says voters in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania are newly energized since she moved to the top of the ticket six weeks ago, with tens of thousands of new volunteers signed up to canvass for her and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

Harris’ and Mr. Biden’s appearance at the parade, one of the largest such gatherings in the country, is part of a battleground state blitz with just over two months until Election Day. Harris will first head to Detroit Monday for a campaign event before meeting the president in Pennsylvania.

Harris has sought to appeal to voters by positioning herself as a break from poisonous politics, rejecting the acerbic rhetoric of her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, while looking to move beyond the Biden era as well. Harris events feel very different from Biden’s, which usually featured small crowds, but the vice president’s agenda is chock-full of the same issues he’s championed: capping the cost of prescription drugs, defending the Affordable Care Act, growing the economy, helping families afford child care — and now her position on U.S. Steel.

“We fight for a future where we build what I call an opportunity economy, so that every American has the opportunity to own a home, start a business and to build wealth and intergenerational wealth,” Harris said at a recent rally, echoing Biden’s calls to grow the economy “from the bottom out and the middle up.”

Harris has promised to work to lower grocery store costs to help fight inflation. She’s also moved faster than Biden in some cases, calling for using tax cuts and incentives to encourage home ownership and end federal taxes on tips for service industry employees. 

The vice president briefly appeared on stage with Mr. Biden after the president delivered his remarks on the opening night of last month’s Democratic National Convention. They both have appeared at official events and met together at the White House since the ticket swap.

Aaron Navarro

contributed to this report.