Published by:Alesha Alkaff<>
1 May 2025 @ 21:01 UTC

The Trump administration’s first 100 days in office has kick-started an industrial renaissance in the US, Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday May 1 during a visit to Nucor’s steel plant in Berkeley County, South Carolina.

A golden age of American manufacturing started 100 days ago, and we’re building it right here at Nucor Steel in South Carolina, Vance said during a speech to Nucor steelworkers. The great American manufacturing comeback has begun, and the world has started to take notice.
President Donald Trump in his first 100 days — which ended on April 30 — has attracted trillions of dollars in commitments for new investment in America, including some from Nucor Steel, Vance said.
“We’re going to see new jobs in artificial intelligence, in chip fabrication, in great American-made steel,” the vice president said, highlighting the use of technology at Nucor’s Berkeley plant, which he said is vital to protecting the domestic steel industry from foreign competitors.
Technology is happening right here at a steelmaking facility in Nucor, in Berkeley, in South Carolina. The technology of the future is going to be building great things, but doing it in a new way, with safer facilities, Vance said. When I go to this facility here in Berkeley, I see the steel mill jobs of the future. That’s how we’re going to beat the Chinese, that’s how we’re going to beat every single competitor that America faces.
Vance, whose grandfather worked for a steel mill in Ohio, said he hoped the steelworkers would feel the same pride his grandfather did working in the steel industry.
For decades, Nucor has been an engine of American industry. The products this company and other steelmakers create form the literal foundation of American society, he said.
Nucor recorded a spike in shipping volumes in the first quarter, according to its earnings report released Tuesday April 29. Executives told investors on Tuesday they expect solid demand to continue, based on its growing backlog of orders.
On the company’s earnings call, Nucor’s chair, president and chief executive officer Leon Topalian supported the Trump administration’s imposition of Section 232 tariffs on steel, which he said will help curb unfairly traded imports.
For nearly 30 years, Nucor has worked across administrations to ensure strong trade law enforcement, and we will continue to be outspoken on these issues so long as there are trading partners who do not play by the rules of free and fair trade, Topalian said on the call.