Kamala Harris said US Steel should remain “American owned and American operated” during a visit to Pennsylvania on Monday, dealing the latest blow to Nippon Steel’s hopes of buying the company. Harris’s comments about a proposed foreign takeover of US Steel echo US President Joe Biden’s own opposition to the deal with Nippon Steel. However they have new significance since Harris, Biden’s vice-president, is now the Democratic nominee for president. “We will continue to strengthen America’s manufacturing sector,” Harris said at a union hall in Pittsburgh, the city where US Steel has its headquarters. “US Steel is a historic American company, and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies.”
