Vice President Kamala Harris has in recent weeks taken to promoting yet another economic policy that was its heyday a favorite of former president Donald Trump, this one involving U.S. Steel ownership itself.
In Pittsburgh, during a campaign stop Monday morning, Harris said she would do what it takes to keep U.S. Steel in domestic hands saying that “U.S. Steel is an historic American company and our nation needs to have strong American companies for steel. U.S. Steel ought to be American owned and operated.”
This mirrors a move made by Trump earlier this year.
Back in January Trump vowed to prevent a buyout of the U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel – Japan’s biggest steel maker that has made a $15 billion dollar bid for the American firm.
“I would block it instantaneously. Absolutely,” Trump said. “We saved the steel industry. Now, US Steel is being bought by Japan. So terrible.”
Then, in March, President Joe Biden also voiced his opposition to the sale.
“U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated,” Biden said in March.
This is the third time Harris has echoed something first proposed by Trump in this election race.
Democrats were caught off guard last month when she announced her embrace of one Trump initiative to lift levies from tips for service workers, a policy that received such pushback among the president’s defenders it inspired “no tax on tips” as message written by supporters on space-available lines left blank next to restaurant receipts.
Harris has been critiqued by Trump’s campaign for co-opting his ideas as her own.
“Kamala Harris, whose ‘Honeymoon’ period is ENDING, and is starting to get hammered in the Polls, just copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes! This was a TRUMP idea – She has no ideas, she can only steal from me. Remember, Kamala has proposed the LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN HISTORY – It won’t happen. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Harris’ recent pledge for a $6,000 child allowance comes on the heels of a similar proposal by Senator JD Vance (R-OH), Trump’s would-be running mate who endorsed doubling the CTC to $5,000. Vance floated the idea of a $5,000 per child tax credit in an interview with CBS.