VP Harris Backs U.S. Manufacturing, While Trump Oversaw Increased Offshoring of American Jobs

As Vice President Harris underlines her strong support for American manufacturing and keeping U.S. Steel American-owned and operated, DNC Spokesperson Addy Toevs released the following statement:

“Donald Trump has never been a friend of the labor movement. Now, his extreme Project 2025 agenda threatens to undermine unions and hike costs for Pennsylvania families. In sharp contrast, Vice President Harris is an unwavering champion of American industry and workers. Her support for an American-owned and operated U.S. Steel is the latest example. As president, Donald Trump created new incentives for companies to ship Pennsylvanians’ jobs overseas. A Harris-Walz administration will continue to build the economy from the bottom up and middle out. As president, Kamala Harris will work alongside the United Steelworkers, invest in U.S. manufacturing, and work to create good-paying union jobs to strengthen Pennsylvania’s middle class.”

Vice President Harris is an unfailing advocate for union workers and American manufacturing. Yesterday, she made that clear yet again as she vowed to pass the PRO Act and work alongside the United Steelworkers to keep U.S. Steel American-owned and operated. 

CNN: Harris backs US ownership of US Steel, in blow to takeover by Japanese company

“Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday that US Steel should remain domestically owned, saying during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh that it is ‘vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies.’

“Harris’ comments marked the first time she lent her voice to the dispute over the proposed sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel, Japan’s biggest steelmaker.

“‘The president mentioned it: US Steel is a historic American company, and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies,’ Harris said at the Labor Day event after being introduced by Joe Biden. ‘And I couldn’t agree more with President Biden, US Steel should remain American owned and American operated.’”

Pennsylvania Capital-Star: Harris and Biden campaign in Pittsburgh as presidential race enters the home stretch

“Harris also said she would pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would amend the National Labor Relations Act to provide additional supports for workers.

“Biden and Harris spoke at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Hall on Pittsburgh’s South Side, appearing together on the campaign trail for the first time since he dropped his reelection bid in July and endorsed her candidacy for president. 

“Harris called Pittsburgh the ‘cradle of the American labor movement,’ and said the region was also shaping labor’s future. ‘Pittsburgh, together, we are fighting to build an economy that works for all working people.’ […]

“David McCall, International president of the United Steelworkers, praised Harris’ remarks in a statement Monday. ‘Union workers built this nation, and our union is proud to support the toughest, most pro-worker candidate in this race: Vice President Kamala Harris,’ McCall said. ‘Today, she once again made it clear that she will always stand up for Steelworkers and have our backs.’”

As president, Trump failed American workers and created new incentives for companies to ship Pennsylvania jobs overseas, and the offshoring of US jobs increased on his watch. Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 agenda threatens to raise taxes on the middle class while gifting more giveaways to their billionaire allies.

Center for American Progress: “Project 2025’s Tax Plan Would Raise Taxes on the Middle Class and Cut Taxes for the Wealthy”

“[In Project 2025], far-right extremist plans are outlined that raise taxes on low- and middle-income households to finance tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. Project 2025’s tax plan includes an ‘intermediate tax reform’ that includes changes to tax brackets and corporate tax cuts that would shift the tax burden toward middle-income households…

“The shift toward a flat consumption tax while eliminating income taxes would lead to an average $5,900 tax increase for the middle 20 percent of households and an average $2 million tax cut for the top 0.1 percent. … Project 2025 does not stop at cutting taxes for wealthy individuals; it also proposes an array of tax cuts for corporations. … This would amount to a $24 billion tax cut for the Fortune 100, the 100 largest companies in America.”

Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy: Trump-GOP Tax Law Encourages Companies to Move Jobs Offshore–and New Tax Cuts Won’t Change That 

“The Trump-GOP tax law enacted in December 2017 creates clear incentives for American-based corporations to move operations and jobs abroad, including a zero percent tax rate on many profits generated offshore.

Washington Post: “Trump promised ‘America First’ would keep jobs here. But the tax plan might push them overseas.”

Economic Policy Institute: Unprecedented: The Trump NLRB’s attack on workers’ rights

“Under the Trump administration, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has systematically rolled back workers’ rights to form unions and engage in collective bargaining with their employers, to the detriment of workers, their communities, and the economy.”

Fast Company: JD Vance says he’s pro-worker. Here’s what he really believes

“In 2020, Vance claimed that he was ‘not a huge fan’ of right-to-work laws, which make it significantly harder for workers to unionize across about half the states in the U.S. He has also denounced the growing reliance on ‘cheaper labor,’ which he says has depressed wages for American workers. 

“But Vance has also opposed such legislation as the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would address loopholes in labor law and expand protections for workers seeking to unionize. (Union leaders and prolabor lawmakers have spent years trying to get the bill passed.)”

Bloomberg: “The Offshoring of U.S. Jobs Increased on Trump’s Watch”

Reuters: “How offshoring rolled along under Trump, who vowed to stop it”

“Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency four years ago, in part, by a promise to Midwest factory workers that he would stop companies like Schneider Electric SE from moving jobs out of the country. He didn’t stop them.”

Guardian: “’He pulled the wool over our eyes’: workers blame Trump for moving jobs overseas”

“Promises to save US manufacturing and prevent American jobs moving abroad were a key part of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. But since Trump took office in January 2017, nearly 200,000 jobs have been moved overseas, based on Trade Adjustment Assistance certified petitions.”