JD Vance Visits Friendly Territory to Tout Trump’s Trade Agenda

The vice president visited a tariff-supporting steel mill as Trump’s agenda increases economic anxiety.

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Vice President JD Vance toured the Nucor steel mill. Kevin Lamarque/AP

HUGER, S.C. — There was no mention of Mike Waltz’s departure Thursday on Air Force Two.

Vice President JD Vance, dressed in a construction jacket and a hard hat at a Nucor steel plant in South Carolina, was attempting to conduct business as usual: touting the administration’s first 100 days and hailing the return of manufacturing.

But Vance couldn’t shield himself from every headline. Looming over his visit with South Carolina steel workers was the reality that the White House is in the midst of juggling hundreds of trade negotiations, as economic uncertainty over the threat of President Donald Trump’s tariffs deepens.