India’s Essar Group To Invest $18 Billion In US, Build Largest Steel Plant In American History

India’s Essar Group plans to invest a total of $18 billion in the United States, including a $15 billion steel plant in Iowa that US President Donald Trump unveiled at the White House. The project, being developed by Essar-owned Mesabi Metallics, is expected to become one of the largest steel plants in the US, with eventual production of 10 million tonnes a year.

The first phase is expected to produce 7.5 million tonnes of steel annually, with the first steel targeted for 2030. The project will be built in phases and is designed to create an integrated US supply chain stretching from iron ore mining and processing to steel production.

Mesabi Metallics will use iron ore produced at its operation in Nashwauk, Minnesota, as feedstock for the Iowa steel plant. Essar has already invested more than $2.5 billion in the Minnesota iron ore project, which has started initial operations.

The Minnesota operation is the first new iron ore mine and pellet plant to begin operating in the US in about 50 years, according to Essar. At full capacity, the facility is expected to produce up to 7 million tonnes of direct reduction grade iron ore pellets a year. The operation is spread across more than 16,000 acres.

Essar has described its Mesabi investment as a strategic investment aimed at supplying high-grade iron ore for modern steelmaking in North America. The direct reduction grade pellets produced there can be used in electric arc furnace steelmaking, supporting the company’s plan for an integrated domestic supply chain.

Rewant Ruia, chairman of Mesabi Metallics, thanked Trump for supporting domestic manufacturing. “Thank you, US President Donald Trump, for bringing back the importance of building things in America,” Ruia said, adding that the Iowa project would complete a fully integrated American supply chain.

The Iowa project is expected to create at least 1,750 permanent jobs, while its first phase could support up to 6,000 construction jobs, according to the White House. It has also estimated that the first phase could generate around $95 billion in economic impact during construction and its first 10 years of operation.

The investment comes as the Trump administration pushes to expand domestic manufacturing and reduce US dependence on imported industrial materials. Trump has made steel production and manufacturing a central part of his economic policy and imposed higher tariffs on imported steel, arguing that trade barriers would encourage companies to invest and produce in the US.

“Everyone’s building their plants here because they don’t want to pay tariffs,” Trump said at the White House event.

Essar’s growing US footprint also includes metals, mining, technology and infrastructure. In September, the group said the US Export-Import Bank had offered up to $10 billion in financing for the expansion of Mesabi Metallics.

The Minnesota project currently employs more than 200 people and is expected to employ about 350 more when it reaches full capacity. The Iowa steel plant is expected to strengthen US supplies of materials considered important for manufacturing, infrastructure, automobiles, shipbuilding and defence.

The Iowa plant is expected to be built in phases, with production eventually reaching 10 million tonnes of steel a year. The project will need to move through construction and development stages before commercial steel production begins in 2030.