Kamala Harris Calls for U.S. Steel to Stay American

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said US Steel should remain in domestic hands as she made her pitch to working-class voters in Pennsylvania during a rally with President Joe Biden.

The Labor Day rally marked their first appearance together on the campaign trail since Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in July, and the president introduced the vice president to a crowd of more than 600 people packed into a union hall.

"US Steel is a historic American company, and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies," Harris said in her remarks at the rally.

"US Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated," she added.

The US holiday of Labor Day marks the start of the vital post-summer sprint to the Nov. 5 election. Both Harris and her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, are expected to ramp up outreach to voters, especially in battleground states which could prove decisive such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada.

“But as we fight to move forward, Donald Trump is trying to pull us backward, including back to a time before workers had the freedom to organize. Well, the courts will handle that and we will handle November, how about that? We'll handle November, let the courts handle that other thing. But we're not going back,” Harris said.

Trump stayed off the campaign trail, while Harris held events in Detroit and Pittsburgh, where she used her remarks to underscore support for steel workers.

Harris' position on US Steel Corp mirrors that of Biden, who said in March that the company, which has agreed to be bought by Japan's Nippon Steel 5401.T for $14.9 billion, must remain a domestically owned American firm.

Trump in February had signaled he would move to block the deal. Last month, Trump said he would halt the deal.