Trump heads to Rust Belt to tout his big beautiful 'steel deal'...but a major player is staying away
President Donald Trump heads to Pittsburgh on Friday to tout a steel deal that he says will bring unprecedented job growth in the industry to Pennsylvania.
Trump has boasted about a 'planned partnership' between the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel and Japan-based Nippon Steel, who originally had wanted to acquire the American firm.
'This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 Billion Dollars to the U.S. Economy,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'The bulk of that Investment will occur in the next 14 months. This is the largest Investment in the History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.'
While Trump initially said he'd hold a 'BIG rally' Friday in Pittsburgh, he's now delivering remarks at the Irvin Works, a U.S. Steel plant located outside the city limits, hugging the Monongahela River in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania's Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who live steps away from U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock, initially applauded to deal in an X post on the heels of Trump's announcement.
'Vowed to jam that up almost a year and a half ago and we did. The original deal was a death sentence for Mon Valley steel. Nippon coughed up an extra $14B. This is why we fight for the union way of life, and I will continue to support @steelworkers no matter the cause,' Fetterman posted, tagging the United Steelworkers in the post.
But it's the United Steelworkers who've remained the most skeptical of the deal.
A spokesperson for the USW told the Daily Mail that the union 'does not currently plan to participate in any of the events on Friday.'
Late Wednesday, a letter from USW President David McCall and Mike Millsap, the chairman of the negotiating committee, went out to the membership and noted that the Pittsburgh-headquartered union wasn't 'involved in the closed-door discussions.'
'We also cannot confirm how much of the publicly claimed $14 billion in proposed investment would be directed to our union-represented plants, or how much of that sum would go toward genuinely new capital improvements as opposed to routine repair and maintenance,' they said.
The union heads warned that Nippon didn't dispute that $4 billion of the investment would go toward 'greenfield operations' - new business - 'and our members already know that our plants are not "greenfields," and generally that means non-union.'
The three plants in the Mon Valley are those in Braddock, West Mifflin, where Trump will speak, and the Clairton Mill Works in Clairton.
'Nippon has maintained consistently that it would only invest in U.S. Steel's facilities if it owned the company outright. We've seen nothing in the reporting over the past few days suggesting that Nippon has walked back from this position,' McCall and Millsap also said.
Republican Sen. Dave McCormick on Tuesday attempted to fill in some of the blanks, describing the deal as 'an investment' and called Nippon's role 'partial ownership, but it will be controlled by the U.S.'
U.S. Steel's board will remain U.S. citizens, as will key management positions, including the company's CEO.
McCormick also said that the U.S. government would get a 'golden share,' which would allow it to outvote shareholders on certain key decisions.
Trump, as well as former President Joe Biden, had opposed Nippon buying U.S. Steel outright.
Ahead of Trump's trip, local leadership and workers were more keen on the deal.
West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly, a Democrat, told the Daily Mail via email that local unions 'are largely in favor of moving forward with the proposed deal.'
He said his own experience has 'reinforced my optimism for its prompt finalization,' adding that the 'investment in the Mon-Valley is unprecedented, representing more funding for new technology than we've seen in many years.'
'Additionally, I have had the privilege of communicating with workers from Nippon's other American plants, all of whom have shared positive feedback regarding safety, contract negotiations, and management relations,' the mayor added.
Glenn Thomas, who's worked at the Braddock U.S. Steel plant for 44 years, told WTAE that he was 'elated' and 'overjoyed' by the news.
'I'm happy for all the families that are going to be able to keep sending their kids to college, paying their mortgages and feeding their families,' Thomas said. 'It means a lot for Pittsburgh. Not only is it the steelworkers' jobs that it saves, it's the contractors' jobs, it's the local communities' tax base.'
As White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was leaving the podium Thursday, she said that Trump had been on the phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba earlier that morning.
The Nippon deal pledges to bring $14 billion in investment into U.S. Steel, but the Steelworkers Union raised concerns that more than a quarter of that investment would go to 'greenfield operations,' which could be non-union and not help update the current aging infrastructure
She gave few details on what the president's visit would entail.
'I can tell you that the president greatly looks forward to going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he will discuss this historic deal and discuss American jobs and American steel and we hope to see you all there,' Leavitt said.
The White House wouldn't divulge to the Daily Mail whether Fetterman or Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro would be on hand, nor would their offices.
Shapiro had said last Friday the deal would 'deliver historic investments' to the state.
While Trump won Pennsylvania in 2024 in part due to his strength from white working class voters, union households tilted in favor of his opponent, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Exit polling found that union households made up 18 percent of the Keystone State's electorate - and they voted for Harris 52 percent to Trump's 47 percent - an improvement over Biden's 49 percent to Trump's 50 percent four years before.
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