By Gram Slattery and David Shepardson
YORK, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday will reiterate he would block Nippon Steel’s planned purchase of U.S. Steel and move to rescind Biden administration power plant pollution rules.
Trump in February had signaled he would move to block the deal. Trump will tell workers in York, Pennsylvania, that if elected he “will stop Japan from buying U.S. Steel,” according to prepared remarks released by the campaign.
Shares in U.S. Steel had been lower and fell after Trump’s planned remarks were reported and were recently trading down 3.5%. President Joe Biden in March said it is vital for U.S. Steel “to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.”
In April, the Environmental Protection Agency published final rules targeting carbon, air and water pollution from power plants that it says could cut over 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2047. The electricity sector is responsible for nearly a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution, according to the EPA.
Trump will call the rule part of an “anti-American energy crusade” that he would seek to repeal and “instead of shutting down power plants, we will open dozens more.” He also vowed to prevent a transition to more electric vehicles that the Biden administration has championed.
Trump will say in his remarks that he will “issue rapid approvals for new energy infrastructure—and we will embrace all forms of energy, including nuclear. To power our country into the future, including the electricity demands of AI and cryptocurrencies, we will make a historic commitment to bringing ‘Advanced Small Modular Nuclear Reactors’ online.”
Trump also vowed to revoke China’s most favored nation trade status and seek legislation to make China or other countries pay reciprocal tariffs if they imposed new tariffs. He also said he would invoke the Defense Production Act to “quickly ramp up capacity of essential products.”
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Lisa Shumaker)
