President Donald Trump announced plans Monday to build a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa.
“This steel will be mined, smelted and manufactured right here in the United States, which is very unusual,” Trump said in the Oval Office, where he was joined by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Joe Broking, CEO of the company building the plant; and other business leaders.
Mesabi Metallics is building the plant with the goal of starting production by 2030, a White House official said. The plant is expected to produce 10 million tonnes of steel per year and create up to 1,750 permanent jobs in the state, the official said.
The plant will be able to meet the needs of the defense sector for high-quality steel, the official said.
The president said the plant would “produce the highest quality and most affordable steel in the world.”
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the new facility.
The plant will use iron ore from a new mine the company invested $2.5 billion in in Minnesota. The mine, which will come online in the coming weeks, will produce about 7.5 million tons of iron per year and create about 350 jobs in the state, the White House official said.
The mine is based in Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, which extends 80 to 100 miles and contributed about 60 percent of total U.S. iron ore production during the 20th century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
“This is the first new iron mine in the United States in over 50 years,” Trump said.
The Export-Import Bank, the federal government’s export credit agency, will provide up to $10 billion in financing for Mesabi Metallics’ expansion in this country, an agency statement said.
Trump has prioritized expanding the U.S. manufacturing sector, including targeting steel imports as part of a sweeping trade policy. Although the Supreme Court earlier this year struck down many of the tariffs he had imposed, it kept the duties on imported steel and aluminum in place. The United States currently imposes 50% tariffs on most steel imports.
Trump on Monday touted his efforts to try to reinvigorate the industry.
“Shortly after my inauguration, I imposed a powerful 50 percent tariff on all foreign steel, and now our steel industry is coming back to life,” he said. “Everyone is building their factory here because they don’t want to pay customs duties.”
In a letter to Trump last week, steel industry groups urged the president to “stand firm against efforts to weaken tariffs” as U.S. steelmakers invest in new steel mills domestically.
“Weakening tariffs now would jeopardize that progress, threatening American jobs and the economic and national security benefits that the policy is designed to protect,” they warned.
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