President Biden visits U.S. Steel, stresses importance of keeping corporation American

President Joe Biden was welcomed and applauded by U.S. Steel workers Wednesday afternoon when he arrived downtown at their headquarters

The spot where Channel 11′s Talia Kirkland was standing was a very different scene as two groups of protestors filled the area and chanted “Bidenomics has to go” and “Cease fire” as the president walked in.

Biden, unphased by the protestors outside, tackled the big issue head-on when he spoke to a group of about 100 steelworkers and local officials.

The president said he is against the US Steel and Nippon deal. His remarks come after company shareholders approved a more than $14 billion merger.

Biden reassured workers that he believes US Steel should remain American, and committed himself to job protection and growth in western Pennsylvania.

Biden then went on to make a direct appeal to voters, calling out his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, who he says won’t work to protect the region, claiming that Trump rolled back protections for American workers and said unemployment rates soared under the previous administration.

Second-generation steel worker Don Furko stressed the importance of these jobs.

“For every steel job in the state of Pennsylvania, it supports between five and 10 non-steel jobs. That’s contractor, that’s supply chain, that’s the Speedway outside my plant, you know. So if we were to lose our jobs here in the Mon Valley, it would be catastrophic to the region for sure,” Furko said.

Biden will visit Philadelphia Thursday.

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