Shapiro calls Trump US Steel deal a ‘BFD’

Shapiro said when the deal was announced in December 2023, people immediately took sides. However, he prioritized protecting steelmaking in the Mon Valley and keeping US Steel’s headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh. 

“That was my North Star,” he said.

Shapiro said he watched the local union members go from being against the deal to supporting it. 

“They really evolved over time on the deal,” he said.

Jack Maskil, president of the United Steelworkers Union Local 227, admitted that when he first found out about the deal, he was so flabbergasted and taken aback that he was against it.  

“That changed over time. It did for all of us,” he said of most of the members of the local union, which represents workers at the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock, the Irvin Works in West Mifflin, and the Clairton Works in Clairton.

Maskil now robustly supports the deal, and Trump is getting behind it to make it happen.

After listening to all the local stakeholders last year, Shapiro said he went to the White House to push former President Joe Biden to make the deal, but he had to call Biden’s people multiple times.

“I talked to his chief of staff, Jeff Zients, over and over and over again. And I was really disappointed with the decision that they made,” he said.

Shapiro said that when Trump won, he contacted the transition team to let them know what he heard from locals about the critical importance of some deal. 

“And credit the President for making the deal richer and richer, meaning more money put in it and looking out for Pennsylvania in this,” he said.

Shapiro said the deal got better because of Trump’s negotiating style.

“The deal has gotten better. The prospects for the future of steelmaking have gotten better,” he said, emphasizing that he worked closely with Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) throughout the process.

“Credit goes to McCormick as one of many people involved in this,” Shapiro said, adding that numerous local Republican and Democratic mayors and community leaders have come out in support of the deal.

Shapiro said the first time he talked to Trump was in late April, right after Cody Balmer allegedly set fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion.

“When the president called me after the fire, we talked for about 15, 20 minutes. And after he checked in to make sure our family was doing well, we got down to business, and we talked for a while about different issues. And this was the first issue I raised with him. I actually think maybe he was surprised to hear me talk about the need to get this done and my support for getting something done,” he said.

Shapiro said he is not trying to take glory for anything. 

“Please don’t take this as I’m claiming credit. This is an example of everybody working together, and Friday, well, that will be a good day,” he said, smiling in anticipation of the deal being finalized on May 30.

Shapiro said Western Pennsylvania has literally been the arsenal of democracy, and its steelmaking has been a huge part of that. 

“We’ve seen US Steel over the last three decades diminish in its number of jobs, and we were on a dangerous path to lose even more jobs to the South, to non-union states, Arkansas being the example. And frankly, you had a CEO at US Steel who had forecasted that,” he said.

Shapiro continued, “We needed to do something here. And I can’t overstate the importance of not just keeping steelmaking in Western Pennsylvania, but the cultural aspect of knowing that U.S. Steel will remain a Pittsburgh company, it’s going to remain in Pennsylvania, and that there’s a future that’s bright. We’re going to grow again instead of seeing those numbers decline.”

TRUMP MAKES DEAL OF A LIFETIME FOR US STEEL

Shapiro said one of the things he has been working on to make this investment shovel-ready is ensuring there are no bureaucratic firewalls from the state.

“I’m already talking to Takahiro Mori about permitting and the need to move quickly,” he said of Nippon Steel’s vice chairman and executive vice president.