PITTSBURGH – President Joe Biden promised cheering unionized steelworkers on Wednesday that his administration would block the acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japanese company, and he called for a tripling of tariffs on Chinese steel, seeking to use trade policy to win over working-class votes in Pennsylvania, an election-year battleground.
The Democrat’s administration is reviewing the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel. The president said last month he would oppose the deal, saying it was “vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.” The moves reflected the intersection of Biden’s international trade policy with his reelection effort, although the White House insisted they were more about shielding American manufacturing from unfair trade practices overseas than firing up a union audience.
The administration also promised to pursue investigations against countries and importers that try to saturate existing markets with Chinese steel and said it was working with Mexico to ensure that Chinese companies cannot circumvent the tariffs by shipping steel there for subsequent export to the United States.
China produces about half of the world’s steel and is making far more than its domestic market needs. It sells steel on the world market for less than half what U.S.-produced steel costs, senior Biden administration officials said. Biden is on a three-day Pennsylvania swing that began in his childhood hometown of Scranton on Tuesday and will include a visit to Philadelphia on Thursday. He used Wednesday’s speech to praise union members, whom he will need in November’s election against Republican Donald Trump, telling the crowd, “It ain’t ‘labor.’ It’s unions.”
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