India's Essar Group To Build Largest Steel Plant In US As Trump Unveils $15 Billion Project

 

New Delhi : Indian multinational conglomerate Essar Group will build "the largest steel plant" in American history in Iowa, with an investment of USD 15 billion (around Rs 1.44 lakh crore).

The announcement was made by US President Donald Trump on Monday in the Oval Office with Essar Group co-founder Ravi Ruia and his son Rewant by his side. "Today, we're thrilled to announce that Mesabi Metallics will be building the largest steel plant in American history in the great state of Iowa," Trump said.

The new steel plant is being built by Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota company owned by India’s Essar Group. Mesabi Metallics is building the plant to start production by 2030, a White House official said.

The facility is expected to produce 10 million tonnes of steel a year and create as many as 1,750 permanent jobs in the state, the official said.

 

Mesabi Metallics chairman Rewant Ruia thanked Trump “for bringing back the importance of building things in America.”

The plant will use iron ore from a new mine that the company invested USD 2.5 billion to build in Minnesota. The mine will produce about 7.5 million tonnes of iron per year and create about 350 jobs in the state, the White House official said, noting that it will be the first new iron mine in the US in 50 years.

The mine is based in Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, which stretches 80 to 100 miles and contributed about 60 per cent of total iron ore production in the US during the 20th century. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, John Jovanovic, chair of the Export-Import Bank, and David Copley, senior director for Global Supply Chain, were among the other people present at the announcement.

 

“This plant will use the latest technology and will compete head-to-head with any steel plant in the world on size, quality and cost,” Rewant said. Trump said the American steel industry is “roaring back to life,” crediting it to the 50% tariffs on steel imports that he imposed last year. “Everyone is building their plants here because they don’t want to pay tariffs,” Trump said. “It’s really not that complicated.”

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

 

Mesabi Metallics is based in Nashwauk, Minnesota. 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.

Joe Broking, CEO at Mesabi Metallics, called the announcement a “major moment for US made steel," saying the factory would be supplying a critical product that U.S. national defense, cars and trucks, shipbuilding, household appliances, energy and infrastructure depend on.