‘If you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country’: Trump celebrates steel deal, American industry at rally

President Donald Trump lauded a deal for the purchase of U.S. Steel by Japan-based Nippon Steel at a Pittsburgh rally celebrating investment in American industry on Friday.

“For generations, the name ‘United States Steel’ was synonymous with greatness, and now, it will be again,” Trump told a large crowd of steelworkers at Mon Valley Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. “The best and strongest steel on earth will forever be made in America, and made in Pennsylvania.”

The deal notably includes a commitment of American majority control of U.S. Steel, increased investment in American steel manufacturing and the expansion of multiple plants in other states.

The president also announced he is doubling tariffs on steel imports: “We are going to be imposing a 25% increase; we’re going to bring it from 25% to 50%, the tariffs on steel into the United States.”

Trump positioned the steel deal as a national security victory.

“When I came into office eight years ago, I proclaimed a simple but crucially important principle: if you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country; you don’t have a country, you can’t make a military,” he said. “A strong steel industry is not just a matter of dignity or prosperity and pride, it’s above all, a matter of national security.”

The president announced other America-first investments from companies such as Apple, Amazon, NVIDIA, Stellantis and General Motors.

“Since my election, we’ve created nearly half a million new jobs, including 10,000 manufacturing jobs, and those numbers are going through the roof,” he said. “We’re going to have close to $11 trillion … in new investments in the United States.”

The rally comes as an economic report this week showed low inflation and the Trump administration reports progress on cutting the trade deficit – both mentioned by the president during his remarks. He also championed the tax cuts in the so-called “big, beautiful bill,” a budget measure currently with the Senate.

“With the help of patriots like you, we’re going to produce our own metal, unleash our own energy, secure our own future, build our country, control our destiny,” Trump concluded. “And we are once again, going to put Pennsylvania steel into the backbone of America like never before. The golden age of America has only just begun, and together, we are going to make America great again, greater than ever before.”