Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur has invited President Donald Trump to visit Lorain and help prevent the closure of some of the city's steel operations.
U.S. Steel plans to permanently close one of its tubular operations in June, after idling it in 2015. That part of the plant makes smaller pipes; Kaptur says there’s been less demand for those pipes with the downturn in the natural gas industry. She says Trump could start by placing a tariff on foreign steel.
"We have to have a capability as a country -- for the sake of our own economy as well as our defense -- to have a robust domestic steel industry. We can't just keep doling it away to foreign countries that, by the way, don't play by the rules.
"I'm obviously not in the president's party. But he made a promise: he talked about re-doing various trade deals. He talked about places like Ohio. So I think this should be a high priority for his administration and I’m hoping he will jump to the occasion."
Kaptur also plans to invite Vice President Mike Pence to meet with representatives from U.S. Steel and Republic Steel, which recently idled its Lorain plant. She says she’s crossing party lines after hearing Trump's campaign promise to get tough on global trade.
