Biden looks to blunt Trump pop­ulism with oppo­si­tion to US Steel sale

Pres­i­dent Joe Biden came out in oppo­si­tion to the sale of U.S. Steel to a for­eign com­peti­tor as he left one Mid­west­ern bat­tle­ground state and head­ed to anoth­er.
“It is impor­tant that we main­tain strong Amer­i­can steel com­pa­nies pow­ered by Amer­i­can steel­work­ers,” the pres­i­dent said. “I told our steel­work­ers I have their backs, and I meant it. U.S. Steel has been an icon­ic Amer­i­can steel com­pa­ny for more than a cen­tu­ry, and it is vital for it to remain an Amer­i­can steel com­pa­ny that is domes­ti­cal­ly owned and oper­at­ed.”
While the state­ment con­cerns the sale of a sin­gle com­pa­ny to Japan­ese firm Nip­pon Steel, a deal that is under review from the Com­mit­tee on For­eign Invest­ment, it sends the polit­i­cal sig­nal of Biden’s com­mit­ment to Amer­i­can man­u­fac­tur­ing, labor unions, and blue-col­lar work­ers.
The sale itself was ann …