Before heading out to Pittsburgh to celebrate President Donald Trump's deal that keeps U.S. Steel headquartered in America, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Newsmax that the president's agreement protects workers here in the United States.
"When I found out this deal was done and inked, I couldn't be more excited to go down and start to visit with those steelworkers as we create these 70,000 new jobs," Chavez-DeRemer said Friday on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "This is important for the economy, this is important for America, and this is a historic deal that the president has made with U.S. Steel.
"First and foremost, what the president did there was protect the American worker," she said. "On-shoring and having in the agreement that those American workers will stay here in the United States was key. That has been his focus from day one. That is what we are working on together is to grow this economy and to make sure that we're protecting the American worker first. And he sealed the deal."
Trump cleared the way for Japan's Nippon Steel to acquire U.S. Steel last week, with a key provision that the United States will have control over U.S. Steel. Nippon Steel plans to invest $14 billion into U.S. Steel's operations as part of the deal.
Keeping those steel production jobs in the U.S. isn't just about the economy, Chavez-DeRemer said. There's a national security component to domestic manufacturing as well.
"We have to be self-reliant on the United States of America first if we're going to be dominant," she said. "Not only does this open up the manufacturing sector, but it's going to open up many other sectors as well, the energy sector. And so we have to be self-reliant. The president understands that and now Pennsylvania is going to understand that tonight at this great rally that we're going to have."
While some in the media might be focused on metrics like the Dow Jones Industrial Average or employment statistics, Chavez-DeRemer said that the focus should be on investing in America.
"Tens of trillions of dollars have already been committed," she said. "That's the key that we are going to invest in America first. We're seeing those job numbers come back. We saw them in the first two months and since President Trump has been in office, more than 450,000 jobs have come back to America. That's only going to continue as long as these investments continue. The president is laser focused on this, and I will be right by his side to make sure that those American workers are skilled and ready to go."
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