Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reacts during a Labor Day campaign event at IBEW Local 5 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, September 2, 2024.
Elisabeth Franz | Reuters
vice president Kamala Harris He participated in a joint election campaign with the president. Joe Biden Speaking in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday, he said U.S. Steel should remain domestically owned, echoing a view the White House has opposed for months. The company’s plan to sell to Nippon Steel.
Making her remarks before cheering union members to mark Labor Day in the industrial city of Pittsburgh, Harris said U.S. Steel was “a historic American company and maintaining a strong American steel company is vital to our country.”
“U.S. Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated, and I will always support American steelworkers,” she said.
This puts him in line with Biden, who on Monday reiterated comments he has made since March that he opposes the sale of U.S. Steel. JapanThey believed it would harm the nation’s steelworkers. It also overlaps with former Republican President Donald Trump.While it’s not surprising that Harris would agree with Biden on this issue, it’s still a major policy position for the vice president, who has taken relatively few policy positions thus far. Biden gave up on reelection and endorsed his vice president. In July.
Chants of “Thank you, Joe” were heard as Biden took the stage first and appeared with Harris in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers auditorium.
The president called Harris the only “logical” choice for the presidency in November, said choosing her as his vice president was the “single best” decision he made as president, and told union members that selecting her would be “the best decision you will ever make.”
Biden also began by saying, “Kamala Harris and I are going to build on this,” but then revised it as if he was still on the campaign trail and she was his running mate.The remarks underscored how much the race has changed, and how Harris has carefully balanced presenting a “new direction” while remaining fiercely loyal to Biden and the Democratic Party. policy He pressed on.
Her approach is very different and she is under pressure to act more quickly than the Biden administration in some cases, but the overall goal is the same: expanding government programs to support the middle class.
“I know it’s going to be a close game all the way to the end,” Harris told the Pittsburgh crowd.
The joint rally with Biden was Harris’ second of the day and came after the Pittsburgh Labor Day Parade, the largest in the nation, and the first time the two have campaigned together since the election’s shake-up six weeks ago.
Vice President Harris kicked off her solo campaign on Labor Day with a Detroit event where hundreds of attendees wore bright yellow union shirts and held signs that read “Unions are Strong.” “All Americans benefit from the work of unions,” Harris said.
“Everywhere I go I tell people, ‘Look, you might not be a union member, but you should be grateful that you are,'” Harris said, noting that collective bargaining has helped secure important benefits like a five-day work week and sick pay and solidify safer working conditions.
“Strong unions make America stronger,” she said.
The 81-year-old Biden has spent much of his long political career cultivating close ties with labor unions, and the White House said he asked to introduce Harris in Pittsburgh because he wanted to highlight her record of supporting union members.
In addition to opposing Nippon Steel Corporation sale, Biden supports expanding tariffs Another area of policy agreement is on imported steel from China. Trumphas welcomed higher foreign tariffs on many imports. Still, U.S. Steel said in a statement Monday that it “remains committed to reaching a deal with Nippon Steel that is the best deal for our employees, shareholders, communities and customers.”
“Our partnership with Nippon Steel, a long-standing investor in the United States from close ally Japan, will strengthen the U.S. steel industry, American jobs and U.S. supply chains, making the U.S. steel industry more competitive and resilient against China,” the company said, noting that it employs nearly 4,000 people in Pennsylvania alone.
Nippon Steel responded to Harris’ comments by saying it believed “the acquisition of U.S. Steel would revitalize America’s steel rust belt and benefit American workers, communities and national security in ways that other options cannot.” The Harris campaign issued a statement refuting the sentiment of David McCall, head of the United Steelworkers union, saying Harris’ opposition to the sale “reaffirms that she will always stand up for steelworkers.”
Harris, 59, has sought to win over voters by moving away from former President Trump’s harsh rhetoric and showing her commitment to overcoming the Biden era. Her events are a stark contrast to Biden’s, which typically draw small crowds. But the vice president’s agenda includes issues he has championed in the past, including prescription drug price caps, defending Obamacare, economic growth and child care. And now, her position on the sale of U.S. Steel is also being questioned.
The vice president has pledged to work to lower grocery store costs to combat inflation. She has moved faster than Biden on some points, calling for tax cuts and home-buying incentives and an end to the federal tax on tips for service industry workers. But she has offered few specifics on major policies, instead remaining aligned with Biden on key issues.
Ms. Harris appeared onstage with Mr. Biden after his opening day speech at the Democratic National Convention last month, but they had not shared a microphone at a political event since Mr. Biden was running against Mr. Trump when the campaign used her primarily as a spokesperson on abortion rights, a cause it sees as a win-win in November’s increasingly restrictive election. health care For women, Roe v. Wade lost.
For more than three and a half years, Ms. Harris has been one of Mr. Biden’s leading supporters. Now the tables have turned and Ms. Harris is banking on the Scranton, Pennsylvania, native to help her win in a potentially crucial state.
As Israel’s war with Hamas nears its 11th month, the vice president has appeared to speak out more forcefully about the plight of Gaza’s civilians, but he has also backed Biden’s efforts to arm Israel and reach a hostage deal and ceasefire.Before the vice president left Washington for Detroit, Biden and Harris met with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team in the White House Situation Room early Monday.
“History will prove what we know here: Joe Biden has been one of the most transformative presidents,” Harris said in Pittsburgh, “and as we know, Joe still has a lot of work to do.”
After the event, Biden and Harris returned to the airport together in the presidential limousine, before Air Force One and Air Force Two took off within seconds of each other, returning to the Washington suburbs. However, for continuity of government purposes and in the event of an aviation emergency, the president and vice president never fly on the same plane.
