0:05

In this presidential election, the two

0:08

candidates have rarely found common ground.

0:11

But as our colleague Chris Marr reports, there

0:13

is one issue that unites them. Yeah,

0:16

so it's pretty funny. I mean, I

0:18

think there's almost nothing that these two

0:20

candidates agree on in terms of policy

0:22

right now. Right. But

0:25

oddly enough, there is one issue that Kamala

0:27

Harris and Donald Trump agree on. It

0:30

has to do with this company in Pittsburgh.

0:33

And what company is that? So the company

0:35

I'm talking about is US Steel. US

0:39

Steel. US Steel. US

0:41

Steel. Iconic Pittsburgh-based company, US Steel.

0:44

President Biden is preparing to block the sale

0:46

of US Steel to a Japanese company. Kamala

0:49

Harris and Donald Trump are both against this

0:51

deal, which is selling US Steel to a

0:54

Japanese steel maker for billions of dollars. President

0:57

Biden actually came out and said that he would block the deal.

1:00

American owned, American operated by American union

1:02

steelworkers, the best in the world. And

1:05

that's going to happen, I promise you.

1:13

US Steel, the storied American company,

1:16

has struck a deal with an overseas buyer. A

1:19

deal national politicians have united

1:21

against. But in

1:23

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and surrounding towns, the home

1:26

of US Steel? There's

1:28

actually a disconnect between what

1:30

the national candidates are saying and what some

1:32

of the local elected officials are saying in

1:34

and around Pittsburgh when it comes to this

1:36

US Steel deal. When I

1:38

spoke to people on the ground here, local

1:41

politicians, workers, people who live in

1:43

these towns, it's a much

1:45

more fraught and complex issue. How

1:48

would you feel if Biden did come out and block

1:50

the deal? This, but

1:55

I would ask, Mr.

1:58

President, tell me what you think. one

2:00

person in your administration that spoke

2:02

to any of these workers who

2:05

will be affected. Just give me

2:07

one name of any of the people that

2:09

are going to lose their homes, their livelihood.

2:12

Give me one name that you've spoken

2:14

to. That's what I'd say.

2:20

Welcome to The Journal, our show about

2:22

money, business, and power. I'm

2:24

Jessica Mendoza. It's Thursday, September

2:27

12th. Coming

2:33

up on the show, the fight

2:35

over U.S. steel and the community caught

2:37

in the middle. This

2:49

episode is brought to you by J.P. Morgan

2:51

Wealth Management. Ever find yourself

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Listen at schwab.com/Washington Wise.

3:41

Long before Apple and Amazon, before

3:43

Walmart and the reign of General

3:45

Motors, there was U.S. Steel,

3:48

the first ever billion dollar

3:50

company. U.S. Steel arguably built

3:52

industrial America.

4:00

In its heyday, the company employed

4:02

about 340,000 workers, and its imprint was everywhere,

4:07

from refrigerators to rail cars to the

4:09

UN building and tanks during World War

4:12

II. Steel from

4:14

the company was used in the San

4:16

Francisco Bay Bridge. It was used in

4:18

the major bridges in New York City,

4:20

the Tappan Z, the Veranzano Narrows, and

4:22

the Henry Hudson bridges.

4:26

And at one point, the company controlled

4:28

two-thirds of all steel production in the

4:30

United States. The industrial

4:32

beating heart of U.S. steel was

4:34

in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The

4:37

company made Pittsburgh synonymous with steel town.

4:40

Just ask this guy, a local

4:42

Pittsburghian? Pittsburgher? I

4:45

could possibly be an adopted yinzer.

4:47

A yinzer? It's a Pittsburgher. Our

4:51

colleague Chris Marr has been an adopted

4:54

yinzer for almost 20 years. So

5:00

if you could name like five things that

5:03

you associate with Pittsburgh, what would

5:05

they be? I think

5:07

probably some of the top ones for

5:09

me and other people would be the

5:11

Pittsburgh Steelers for number one. Pittsburgh

5:14

Penguins, the hockey team, I'd probably

5:16

have to add in Primanti Brothers

5:18

sandwiches. And then

5:20

I think that U.S. steel would be pretty close to

5:23

the top as well. So

5:25

sports, sports and industry, basically.

5:30

It's hard to ignore how deeply

5:32

ingrained steel is in Chris's adopted

5:34

hometown. If you drive along

5:36

the rivers or you walk, ride your

5:38

bike, you can see places where there were

5:41

steel mills. You can still see the railroad

5:43

sidings. You know, it's

5:45

present sometimes in the smell in the air. It's

5:47

definitely present when I take my kids to Kennywood,

5:49

the amusement park, because you have one

5:51

side of the river, you've got roller coasters rising above

5:53

the trees. On the other side, you've got the Edgar

5:55

Thompson steel mill, which is still

5:57

operating after more than 100 years. and

6:00

steam coming up out of the buildings. How

6:05

important is U.S. Steel to Pittsburgh?

6:08

I mean, in terms of the city's

6:10

identity, it's still incredibly important. Economically,

6:14

you know, as a

6:16

driver of revenue in the city, it's less important than it

6:18

once was. Less important,

6:20

because for decades, like so much

6:22

manufacturing in the United States, U.S.

6:25

Steel has been in decline. Throughout

6:28

the 1970s and 80s, competition

6:30

from home and abroad began

6:32

to eat into the company's revenues. Advancements

6:35

in technology also meant that the company

6:37

needed fewer workers. So

6:39

what happened was just massive,

6:41

massive job losses. I mean, this was

6:43

a traumatic period for the region here.

6:46

If you go into this area called the Mon Valley,

6:48

which is just south of Pittsburgh,

6:50

you can see towns that are still struggling.

6:53

Over time, U.S. Steel's global workforce

6:56

shrank to about 21,000 workers, just

6:59

6% of where it was at its peak. The

7:02

company was facing a cash crunch. And

7:05

last year, other companies started

7:07

expressing interest in buying U.S. Steel,

7:10

including one from Japan, called Nippon

7:12

Steel. And

7:14

in December... U.S. Steel

7:16

has agreed to sell the company overseas

7:18

for nearly $15 billion. Nippon

7:21

Steel Corporation out of Japan

7:24

announced minutes ago that it's

7:26

acquiring U.S. Steel. The company

7:28

is saying it wants to ensure the

7:30

plant remains viable and provides jobs for

7:32

future generations of steel workers in Pennsylvania.

7:36

Nippon Steel says they want to expand

7:38

in the U.S. market and they want

7:40

to invest in U.S. Steel's facilities. And

7:43

so what did you hear from people that you spoke

7:45

to in the area? Yeah, I mean,

7:47

I think it was kind of shocking to a

7:49

lot of people to hear that U.S. Steel could

7:51

be sold. Hmm. How

7:55

are you, sir? What can I

7:58

do for you? Hi. I'm

8:00

a reporter with the Wall Street Journal. I

8:03

live in Pittsburgh. To have a

8:05

foreign steelmaker come in also is a

8:07

bit, you know, it's a little bit different for,

8:09

especially a company that is such an iconic American

8:12

company. Even

8:15

still, some of the people Chris

8:17

spoke with said they weren't necessarily against the

8:19

deal, like Al Boss, who

8:21

works at a local shop. Some

8:24

people might be a little

8:26

concerned that another country

8:29

has control of our steel here. And

8:32

I'm not sure if that is going

8:34

to be the case. You

8:36

know, here, I'm

8:38

sure that we have American

8:41

companies, owned companies in other

8:44

countries, you know? So

8:48

why are we stopping another country

8:50

from doing business here? Yeah.

8:55

One of the reasons people in the region

8:57

support the deal is that the company brass

8:59

says it's necessary to preserve jobs. The

9:02

CEO of U.S. Steel recently said that

9:04

if this deal with Nippon Steel doesn't

9:06

go through, that U.S.

9:08

Steel could close down the steel plants outside

9:11

Pittsburgh and the Mont Valley, and

9:13

that, you know, they may actually have to

9:15

move the headquarters out of Pittsburgh. Some people

9:17

think it's a bluff, but others think the

9:19

company just, they're going to end up pulling

9:21

out. For its part, Nippon

9:23

Steel says it won't lay off workers or

9:25

shut our plants through 2026. The

9:29

company has also pledged to invest over a

9:31

billion dollars in the region to plants in

9:33

the Mont Valley outside Pittsburgh. But

9:36

do we really know whether or not jobs will

9:38

be lost, like if the deal goes through or

9:40

if it doesn't go through? You

9:42

know, the way that the workers I

9:45

spoke to were looking at this, there

9:47

is uncertainty, you know, in either scenario.

9:49

So if Nippon comes

9:51

in, they want to definitely believe that the

9:53

investment will come through and the jobs will

9:55

be saved, you know, potentially even for generations

9:58

to come. But at the same

10:00

time, time, you know, there are people who are

10:02

skeptical and think, you know, we can't say what's

10:04

going to happen a few years down the line

10:06

after this current contract is up. So

10:09

really, there's concern right at the moment. The

10:12

leadership of the powerful Steelworkers Union

10:14

remains staunchly against the deal. The

10:17

Union worries that Nippon Steel won't honor

10:19

its promises or union contracts, which could

10:21

pave the way for eventual plant closures

10:24

and layoffs. They've also

10:26

alleged that both Nippon Steel and U.S.

10:28

Steel kept the union in the dark

10:30

during negotiations. Here's United

10:32

Steelworkers President Dave McCall talking to

10:34

CNBC. What

10:37

makes it so insincere

10:39

is they make a statement there'll be no

10:41

layoffs, there'll be no plant closures. But

10:43

in our discussions with them, they say there'll

10:46

be no plant closures, there'll be no layoffs

10:48

unless there's a business plan change. Well,

10:50

that's not worth the water that

10:53

it's held in. I

10:56

mean, it's almost been a year at this point since

10:58

the deal was announced. Has anything changed for folks on

11:00

the ground? So from

11:02

what I'm hearing is that, you know, some people's

11:04

views are evolving. You know, it seems like a

11:06

growing number of workers and union

11:08

members of the plant that among the rank and

11:11

file, many of them are coming around to the

11:13

idea that a Nippon Steel would actually be better

11:15

for the Pittsburgh region. You know, it'd be better

11:17

for the communities, it'd be better for the plants,

11:20

and it'd be better ultimately for, you know, these

11:22

workers and their families. This

11:24

debate over the deal has split the

11:27

Pittsburgh region. But the people

11:29

Chris met also know that this deal is about

11:31

more than just one city and one company. It's

11:34

become a major issue in national politics.

11:37

It is, you know, it is political season. It

11:39

is, you know, we are

11:41

going into elections here in about

11:44

two months. Yeah. Yeah.

11:46

That's a very good key. Yep,

11:48

swing state. That's

11:53

after the break. This

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12:31

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12:33

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12:35

inflation to come down, housing prices to

12:38

be more in line with

12:40

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12:52

from September 15th to October 6th

12:54

on Your Money Briefing. The

13:00

New Deal Steel

13:05

is an important commodity for American

13:07

infrastructure and national security. And

13:10

so there's more scrutiny on the potential sale of

13:12

U.S. steel to a foreign buyer. The

13:15

Biden administration has to approve this steel if it's to move

13:17

forward. Where does the

13:19

administration stand on the deal right now? So

13:23

the deal right now is undergoing a

13:25

national security review, but President Biden has

13:27

really been outspoken in saying

13:29

that U.S. steel should remain a

13:31

domestically owned and operated steel company.

13:34

President Joe Biden reportedly plans to block

13:36

the deal. He cited

13:38

national security concerns, as well as a

13:40

desire to safeguard the domestic supply of

13:42

steel. Both former

13:44

President Trump and Vice President Harris have also

13:47

said they opposed the deal. U.S.

13:50

Steel is being bought by Japan. It's

13:52

so terrible. But yeah, we want to

13:54

bring jobs back to the country. U.S.

13:57

Steel is an historic American company. And

14:00

it is vital for our

14:02

nation to maintain strong American

14:05

steel companies. — A

14:07

lot of other politicians agree with the sentiment, including

14:09

everyone from Republican Vice Presidential

14:12

candidate J.D. Vance to

14:14

both Democratic senators of Pennsylvania and

14:16

the state's Democratic governor. What

14:20

specifically have these politicians said about

14:22

why they oppose the deal? —

14:25

You know, I think what comes out when

14:27

I hear them speak is that they're sort

14:30

of signaling that they are supporting

14:32

the American worker. They're supporting working-class

14:35

people, especially, you know, working-class

14:38

voters, really. And

14:40

they want voters to believe that they

14:42

want to support domestic manufacturing. They want

14:45

to support corporations

14:47

in the United States, but, you

14:49

know, even more the workers at

14:51

those companies. — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

14:54

is in one of the swingiest areas

14:56

of one of the most important swing

14:58

states this election. And

15:00

the Steelworkers' Union is a coveted endorsement

15:02

with a powerful organizing arm. But

15:05

local politicians in the region aren't lining up

15:07

as neatly as the national ones. —

15:10

I spoke to some elected officials I took to

15:12

all three mayors from the towns where the U.S.

15:14

Steel has its plants, and they're

15:16

all supportive, too. You know, as long as

15:18

Nippon Steel follows through on its pledge to

15:21

invest in the region, they're in

15:23

favor of the deal. And,

15:25

you know, I spoke to Rich Lattanzee,

15:27

who is the mayor of Clerton, and

15:31

he actually was the Steelworker for 30 years. —

15:34

Hey, Rich. — Hi, I'm Chris Smart. — Pleasure to meet you.

15:36

— Nice to meet you. — Same thing as well. — Thanks.

15:39

So he worked in the Urban Works plant in the

15:41

Rolling Mill and became mayor.

15:43

— I guess so there's been news reports

15:45

that Biden, you know, said he may block

15:47

the deal. How would you feel if

15:50

he stepped in and blocked the deal? —

15:52

Well, there we go again with

15:55

talk. — He said that, you

15:57

know, if this Clerton plant goes away, it's going

15:59

to wipe out. us off the map. People

16:02

that just work there or support the process would

16:04

be out of work. Those people

16:06

that don't have money would be devastating to the

16:08

economy and to Pennsylvania it would take us off

16:11

the map. And I just think

16:13

that we would be in some kind of serious depression.

16:15

I think Claire would be somebody in the water that

16:17

would have trouble swimming but no left grids. So

16:20

he's got a really unique perspective on, you

16:22

know, seeing this from a worker's perspective and

16:24

also from an elected official and someone who's

16:26

looking out for, you know, the people in

16:28

his community. And then on the

16:30

other side, was there anyone in

16:33

particular you met who made a really

16:35

strong case about why this deal should

16:37

not go through? Yeah, so I spoke

16:39

to a worker named Don Furco. He

16:41

works at the Clerton plant also. And

16:45

I met him one day just as he was coming out of the

16:47

gate of the plant. And is this

16:49

the main gate where guys come

16:51

in and out? This is the main gate

16:53

that everybody goes through. His

16:55

take is that he's really trusting

16:57

union leadership right now. He's putting his

17:00

faith in them. And

17:03

he's still not sure about the deal, but he's going

17:05

to go along with what the union is

17:07

saying. Don told Chris that

17:09

he doesn't trust Nippon's deal, in

17:11

part because of how secretive he felt the negotiations

17:14

were. And he worried they

17:16

might not honor the union's contract. But

17:19

Don also acknowledged his colleagues are divided.

17:22

How do you think it breaks down among

17:24

the membership or guys at the plant? I

17:26

think that it's a big

17:29

spag. You know,

17:31

I would probably say it might even be close to

17:33

50-50. I think

17:35

that there are a lot of members who

17:37

are concerned about losing their job. So

17:40

they are more inclined to go

17:42

and back the deal. Some

17:45

workers told Chris they don't buy the whole

17:47

national security argument. After

17:49

all, they say Japan is a US ally.

17:53

Did you get a sense from them about whether

17:55

this was a voting

17:57

issue for them? Is that something

17:59

that would sway them? one way or another come election day.

18:02

Yeah, you know, I did ask people, does

18:05

the position of this candidate affect how you're

18:07

gonna vote? And I

18:10

don't know if this is surprising or not, but they pretty

18:12

much all said, no, it's not gonna

18:14

change how I'm voting. There's a whole bunch of other

18:16

issues that are concerning to me. And

18:18

I see this as political rhetoric.

18:22

And so I thought that was kind

18:24

of interesting, because it signaled to me

18:26

that maybe the politicians

18:28

are attending an effect, but it may

18:30

not be having that effect among voters

18:33

actually. I talked to Chris Kelly,

18:35

and he's the mayor of West Mifflin. And

18:37

that's where one of these steel plants is

18:39

located, called the Ervin Works. What

18:42

do you think about all these politicians jumping in now? I

18:48

think that it's a situation that has

18:50

an opportunity to take time

18:53

for them to do so. And

18:55

I think the amount of

18:58

airtime this is generating and

19:02

knowing that Pennsylvania is such a swing state, and

19:05

Pittsburgh is a catalyst of that, that

19:08

they're paying attention. Like, you know what? Nobody

19:10

did speak to the local guy. Nobody

19:13

spoke to the families that were being affected. Chris

19:16

spoke to Mayor Kelly one evening at the

19:18

mayor's house, out on the driveway. What

19:22

has steel meant to the

19:24

city of Pittsburgh and the region? Oh,

19:27

man. Steel was it.

19:30

I asked him, you know, what was it like back

19:32

in the days when those plants were really churning out

19:34

steel? And he told

19:36

me that, you know, one of the memories he

19:39

had was of sleeping outside and waking up in

19:41

the morning. I mean, we'd sleep out at night

19:43

in the homestead, and you wake up with glitter

19:45

all over your face from

19:47

the blast furnace and everything, but that was part of

19:49

life. You know, some people might call

19:51

it grit or soot, but he

19:54

had a more positive kind of connection to

19:56

it. But

19:59

what ever happens with this deal? whether or not

20:01

it goes through. Are we looking

20:03

at the end of Steel Town? Or

20:05

have we already said goodbye? You

20:08

know, some of the city's connection to the

20:10

steel industry at this point is nostalgic. But

20:13

it's not for the people who work there. I'm

20:15

going to say that too, or the communities where

20:18

these plants are located. For them, it's all about

20:20

earning a living, you know, keeping their

20:22

families healthy and prospering. If

20:26

you're standing in downtown Pittsburgh looking up at the U.S.

20:28

Steel Tower, the tallest

20:30

building in Pittsburgh's skyline, it's

20:33

built from U.S. steel made steel. But

20:36

today it has UPMC across the top, which

20:38

is the name of the biggest healthcare system

20:40

in the region. So that's

20:42

also a very

20:45

real world example of the shift that has

20:47

happened in the city, away from

20:49

steel, but also the enduring

20:51

legacy of the company. So

20:53

I think probably a lot of

20:56

Pittsburgh is waiting to see how this is all

20:58

going to unfold. That's

21:08

all for today, Thursday, September 12th. The

21:11

journal is a co-production of Spotify and The

21:13

Wall Street Journal. Additional reporting in

21:15

this episode from Bob Tita. Thanks

21:22

for listening. See you tomorrow.