By Jarrett Renshaw and Ernest Scheyder
Sept 28 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump on Monday said that a Minnesota company plans to build a multi-billion-dollar steel mill in Iowa, handing the administration a marquee manufacturing investment to showcase as Republicans head into November’s midterm elections.
Trump unveiled the project at the White House with executives from Mesabi Metallics, which recently opened Minnesota’s first new iron ore mine in 50 years. The White House said the plant investment would amount to $15 billion.
The announcement comes as Trump seeks to bolster his economic record ahead of November’s election, with his approval rating plumbing all-time lows of late as the Republican Party confronts voter concerns about inflation and the cost of living. Trump has made tariffs and a revival of US manufacturing central to his economic agenda, arguing that higher barriers to imports will drive investment and jobs back to the United States.
But Republicans are in the midst of several competitive elections in Iowa, a once-swingy state that has more consistently voted for Trump’s party in recent years. Polling this cycle shows a tight race for a seat in the US Senate, as well as its gubernatorial race, where the Democratic candidate, Rob Sand, has led most polls.
The potential $15 billion steel project gives Trump a high-profile investment to tout as he makes that case to voters. It also comes as the administration faces pressure to show that its policies imposing broad tariffs on US imports can deliver industrial gains without fueling inflation.
“This is a tremendous investment,” Trump said in the White House’s Oval Office. “Our steel industry is roaring back to life.”
NEW JOBS EXPECTED
Global steel markets have been sluggish in recent months due in part to overcapacity, particularly in China, and lackluster demand. In the US, however, steel prices have been higher because of trade barriers, boosting the appeal of domestic projects despite their high construction costs.
Trump imposed a 25% tariff on most imported steel during his first term, a levy that his successor, Democrat Joe Biden, largely kept in place.
The American steel manufacturer Cleveland-Cliffs is idling some production at its Hamilton, Ontario, plant in Canada and will lay off hundreds of workers, citing damage from US tariffs, CBC News said on Monday.
US manufacturing activity has picked up over the last year, with Federal Reserve industrial production data showing output growing by the most in around four years. Factory employment, which fell by 113,000 in Trump’s first year back at the White House, has also rebounded a bit this year, rising by 56,000 through August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The new project will be fully vertically integrated, with Mesabi using iron ore from its Minnesota mine to produce steel in Iowa. The first phase will produce 7.5 million tons of steel annually, with the plant eventually expected to reach 10 million tons, which the White House described as the largest steel plant in US history.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the announcement.
The Mesabi steel project would use iron ore extracted from the company’s mine in Nashwauk, Minnesota, roughly 250 miles from the Iowa border.
Indian conglomerate Essar Group owns Mesabi and has invested more than $2.5 billion in the Minnesota mine.
Earlier this month, the US Export-Import Bank said it would finance $10 billion for the mine’s expansion, and the bank’s chairman, John Jovanovic, visited the site.
The Iowa steel plant is expected to create at least 1,750 permanent jobs, the White House said. The first phase is also expected to support up to 6,000 construction jobs.
It was not immediately clear why Mesabi aims to build a steel mill in Iowa using iron ore extracted from Minnesota.
The company was not immediately available to comment.
Power can be a major cost for steel producers, and commercial electricity prices in Iowa are marginally lower than in Minnesota.
The first phase of the project is expected to generate $95 billion in total economic impact during construction and its first 10 years of operation, according to the White House. First steel production is expected in 2030.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Ernest Scheyder; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Dan Burns, David Ljunggren and Divya Rajagopal; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Nick Zieminski, Andrea Ricci and David Gaffen)
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