The Politics of Steel Are Center Stage in Pennsylvania

Salena Zito on Apr 16, 2024

Goncalves said they were forced to close that plant because of the International Trade Commission's decision not to implement anti-dumping and countervailing duties on tin mill products that are imported from Canada, China, Germany and South Korea.

Goncalves said in what was their final effort to maintain production here in America that they were forced to operate on an uneven playing field "and that the deck was stacked in favor of the importers."

In a recent interview with the Washington Examiner, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., a Scranton Democrat up for reelection against Republican businessman Dave McCormick, said he opposed the sale to Nippon Steel on several different levels. "My leading concern on U.S. Steel and Nippon is where will the Mon Valley jobs, steelworker jobs go? U.S. Steel has had plans for a good while, and I haven't heard the response that I need to hear from Nippon on that they're not going to let that happen," he said.

Casey said his other long-term concern was national security: "I realize it's Japan, not China, and we'd be having a whole different conversation if it were China."

Last week, when Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the White House, he and Biden tap danced around reporters' questions about the deal, with Kishida saying he hopes the discussion regarding the sale "will unfold in a direction that will be positive for both sides."

"I stand by my commitment to American workers," Biden said. "I'm a man of my word. I'm going to keep it. And with regard to that, I stand by our commitment to our alliance. This is exactly what we're doing -- a strong alliance as well."

Despite the shareholders' overwhelming support of the sale, the politics and the optics of a company that symbolizes America's work ethic and grit are likely to have an oversized impact on this sale not happening anytime soon.

========

Salena Zito is a CNN political analyst, and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between. To find out more about Salena and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

----