The Vice President rejects claims that US trade policy aims to “revive past jobs,” citing Nucor Operation as “the work of the future.”
Vice President JD Vance also did not address trade negotiations or changes to President Donald Trump’s tariff regime during his May 1 tour of Nucor’s Steel Plant outside Huger in Berkeley County, South Carolina.
Instead, he came to a 62-acre 30-year-old plant 35 miles north of Charleston, celebrating the first 100 days of the Trump administration, calling it “the beginning of the industrial renaissance of the United States.”
“The “golden age of American manufacturing” began 100 days ago and is building it at Nucor Steel in South Carolina,” Vance said after touring the factory employing 1,000 workers and 350 contractors.
Vance was accompanied by South Carolina Lt. Col. Pamela Ebbett, Rep. Nancy Mace (Rs.C.) and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin.
Zeldin said federal agencies should “do nothing more than support America’s manufacturing,” rather than building regulatory obstacles.
“We believe we can protect the environment and grow our economy. We’ll choose both,” Zeldin said.
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He said the EPA launched “the largest tax therapy behavior in the history of the United States” in March, boosting energy development and promoting the domestic “manufacturing renaissance.”
According to Nucor CEO Leon Topalian, these early moves include a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum — which is important for the domestic heavy industry.
Under the policies of the new administration, “Nucor will continue to invest and grow this company… ensuring that our country has the strongest and most diverse steel products available anywhere in the world,” he said.
The tariffs are approved under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, giving the president the ability to coordinate imports to “protect national security.”
President Joe Biden lifted Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs in certain countries such as Japan and the UK, but he held most and expanded them against Chinese steelmakers.
Vance dismissed criticism of the president’s tariffs and trade policy, and rejected trade policies from those who said “we should know better.”
The president’s policy is, “Do something very simple: balance transactions that are beneficial to American workers and American businesses, not foreign workers or foreign companies.”
A Mont Valley factory of American Steel, located outside Pittsburgh. John Housey/Epoch Times
The state of domestic steel
According to the US Geological Survey, the US steel industry produced 81 million tonnes of “fresh steel” in 2024, with an estimated value of $120 billion, down 10% from $132 billion in 2023.
The US steel production is ranked fourth globally after China, India and Japan.
That data shows 2024 steel imports from 79 countries. US buyers purchased $7.7 billion in steel from Canada, followed by Brazil ($4.5 billion), Mexico ($3.3 billion) and South Korea ($1.9 billion).
This trend has to end, Vance said, calling the Nucor Tour a “meaning stop” for him as his grandfather, the “man who raised me,” worked as a welding machine for 40 years at Armco Steel in Middletown, Ohio.
But he said, “I never actually toured a steel factory.” There, we were able to see Nucor plants, which are “spaceship-like” in the Control Room.
“It felt like Homer Simpson,” Vance said.
“It’s this technology that I’ve noticed…we use the term (and) we think of it as a pocket iPhone…but the technology is taking place here at a steelmaking facility in Newport, South Carolina. That’s the technology of the future.”
He then rebutted the claim that Trump “want to regain his past work.”
“I don’t think anything is far from the truth. I have no experience in steel factories in the past,” he said.
“I’m looking at work at the iron factory in the future. I’m looking at the technology that allows us to do something today at Armco Steel in Middletown, Ohio, that we didn’t love my grandfather’s God 40 years ago.”
Nucor, Cleveland-Cliffs, Carpenter Technology, Commercial Metals Company, Steel Dynamics and US Steel are America’s largest steel producers.
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nucor was founded in 1897. We are the largest steel manufacturer and recycler in North America.
“Every year, Nucor produces around 25% of the steel consumed in the US at its 26 steel factories,” Topalian said.
Vance had not dealt with Trump’s decision regarding the purchase of US steel by Japan-based Japanese Steel.
Before taking office in January, Biden issued an order banning the $14.1 billion acquisition. Trump is also opposed to sales.
Supporters, including the local United Miners Union in the Pittsburgh area, say the deal will promote US steel from the world’s largest steel maker to some of the glove’s third largest steel producer.
Nippon Steel and US Steel have filed a lawsuit challenging Biden’s decision.
From mid- to late May, the committee will provide “Recommendations… explaining whether measures proposed by the parties are sufficient to mitigate national security risks.”
