US Steel workers see hope of job security in deal with Japan’s Nippon

Open the newsletter to watch the White House for free

Your guide to what the second period of Trump means to Washington, business and the world

She said that Zoe “did not vote for Trump, and they will never vote for anyone from his inner circle.” But in the afternoon on Friday afternoon in West Miflin, Pennsylvania, the 24 -year -old student walked at the Cave American Mall Factory to attend a march entitled the American president.

The trainee assistant gesture to Anthony, a factory in the Work’s Irvin’s Irvin facility, because she made it clear what he brought there: “I just want job security for our parties and our children in the future.”

The jobs and investment were primarily for many who attended the event on the occasion of the culmination of long -term weapons began in late 2023, when Nippon Steel in Japan agreed to buy the American employer 124 years old.

A $ 15 billion deal, which was initially seen as a victory for the United States and Japan, soon became a political flash point.

Donald Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, criticized the foreign acquisition as “a terrible thing.” Joe Biden came out against her shortly after.

Located in Pennsylvania, US Steel is a critical swing country where Trump and Biden compete for the voices of blue collar. In January this year, with just 17 days remaining in his presidential term, Biden prevented the deal.

A week ago, Trump seemed to support the “planned partnership” between the United States Steel and Nippon Still in a social media post.

On Friday, he told a sea of ​​regular orange steel workers and their families: “There is a lot of money on your way.”

The president continued to announce the doubling of steel and aluminum definitions to 50 percent, with some additional details of the so -called partnership.

Ron, who worked for the United States of America 34 years ago, said the president’s reflection in the deal had not disturbed him. He said: “He had not all the facts” before.

For many others in the gathering, some of them in Maga caps and shirts, the promise of investment has been shattered by any endorsements that they may have around the heart of the Republican leader.

John, a Trump fan, who was a maintenance worker at a United States factory in Monday for 23 years, said he believed that the president changed his opinion of Nippon’s attempt after “he got more details on this topic.”

He said the deal was good news, but it had “some doubts about what would happen.”

“Everyone is sometimes changing their opinion,” said Ben, Moayad Maga, who works his son Tyler in the factory. Tyler added: “Nippon maintains the sweetener of the bowl.”

Such feelings are flying in the face of the position held by the leadership of the United Nations Union. International USW President David McAkal criticized the acquisition when it was announced in 2023 as a decision of the American steel “to pay the concerned workforce concerns and sell to a foreign owned company.”

After the gathering, which showed self -greeting speeches from the CEO of USS Steel, David Bourett and Vice President of Nippon Steel Takahiro Mori, Mukoul said: “Satan is always in detail, and this is especially true with a bad actor like Nippon Steel has repeatedly violated our commercial laws.”

He added: “Our members have known for decades for contracts: Do not trust anything until you see them in writing.”

The division within the union was displayed in West Miflin, southeast of Pittsburgh, where Trump removed the local USW members who broke their leadership to support Nippon’s move.

James, who spent nearly 19 years at the Steel factory, a coke manufacturing facility in the country, said that “he did not understand the reason for the” deal “.

Another audience employee wore a shirt wearing his USW local number, along with the logo: “American by Birth, Union by Choice”.

Away from the assembly, the local opinion was quieter. Earlier in the day, many service workers in downtown Pittsburg said they had no idea that Trump will be in the city in that evening.

But for Steve Smith, Uber’s driver who has worked in various jobs in the so -called Steel City over the past 26 years and has family links with this industry, the deal was logical.

While he expressed some doubts about the revival of the agreement in the region, he said it was the best “another steel mill.”

He said: “If the essence of everything is that it maintains steel in the United States in the United States, I should be a player in it.”