Trump announces largest steel plant in U.S. history in Iowa: $15 billion investment

President Donald Trump announced on Monday a $15 billion investment to build the largest steel plant in United States history in eastern Iowa — a project that, according to the White House, will bring thousands of jobs.

The announcement was made from the Oval Office, where the president was joined by executives of Mesabi Metallics and senior federal and state officials, as the Wall Street Journal reports. The Minnesota-based company, part of India’s Essar Group conglomerate, plans to build a plant with an initial capacity of about 7.5 million tons of steel a year — a figure that would make it the country’s largest producer.

According to the White House, construction is expected to begin this month, with production starting in 2030. The project is projected to create about 6,000 construction jobs and around 1,750 permanent jobs at the plant.

Present at the announcement ceremony were Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who credited the steel tariffs for the project: “Without those tariffs, this mine wouldn’t be built and this plant wouldn’t be built,” he said, with President Trump agreeing with the assessment.

The announcement comes about five weeks before the midterm elections, in a state like Iowa where tight electoral races are expected, giving the project a clear political dimension too.

The news, however, was not well received by the market: shares of major American steel producers — Nucor, Steel Dynamics and Cleveland-Cliffs — fell after the announcement, as investors feared the new capacity could lead to overproduction.