Trump unveils US$15 billion Iowa steel project the White House says will be biggest in US

US President Donald Trump is announcing a new US$15 billion steel plant in Iowa being built with backing from an Indian conglomerate, creating what the White House says will become the largest steel plant in US history.

The White House said Trump will announce the project on Monday afternoon alongside steel industry executives and commerce officials. It comes as Trump is trying to energise voters ahead of difficult midterm races including in Iowa, where governor and Senate seats have become competitive.

The new mill in eastern Iowa is being built by Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota-based company owned by India’s Essar Group, an industrial conglomerate. The White House said the plant will begin producing steel in 2030 and create more than 2,000 jobs in the United States. When it is fully operational, it is expected to produce 10 million tons of steel a year, more than any other in the US.

“President Trump is delivering on his promise to rebuild American industry, reshore manufacturing and create new jobs,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement underscores the President’s historic efforts to revitalise the US steel industry.”

The announcement was first reported by The Wall Street Journal newspaper.

The steel plant will be supplied by a new US$2.5 billion iron ore mine that Mesabi developed in Minnesota. The resulting steel will be produced from start to finish in the United States, the White House said.

In a social media post promoting the announcement, the White House said Trump is “prioritising hardworking Americans instead of foreign labour”.

Trump raised tariffs on steel and aluminium imports earlier this year to 50 per cent, a move that he said protects US industries but also threatens to drive up consumer prices for items from refrigerators to cars.

Trump in June also approved the takeover of American steelmaker US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, a move that had been blocked by former president Joe Biden and initially opposed by Trump as a 2024 presidential candidate. Trump later backed a deal that gave the federal government a say in some company decisions.

Mesabi Metallics is based in Nashwauk, Minnesota, along the Mesabi iron range. The Essar Group is an industrial conglomerate formed in India in 1969, with ventures in industries from energy and mining to technology and retail, according to its website.