By Jarrett Renshaw and Ernest Scheyder
Sept 28 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Monday said that a Minnesota company plans to build a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa, giving 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 announcement comes as Trump seeks to bolster his economic record ahead of November’s midterms, with his Republican Party confronting 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.
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.”
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Ernest Scheyder; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Nick Zieminski and Andrea Ricci)
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