Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works in Middletown, Ohio, on Wednesday, September 25, 2024. Madeleine Hordinski/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s America-first economic agenda is reinvigorating the manufacturing industry. But his administration is planning to slash a key program that invests in some of the biggest manufacturing industries in the US, including in Vice President JD Vance’s hometown in the heart of the Rust Belt.

A $500 million grant from the Biden administration was slated for steel giant Cleveland-Cliffs in Middletown, Ohio — to help the company upgrade its aging blast furnaces. Another $75 million was awarded to the company for a similar project in Pennsylvania.

The new furnaces — which run on climate-friendly hydrogen, natural

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