Steel 'Renaissance' Announced, US Steel Corp Thanks Trump Tariffs
U.S. Steel will pour $750 million into its 110-year-old steel manufacturing plant in Gary, Indiana, citing the increase in demand caused by President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel imports.
In March, Trump slapped a 25 percent tariff on imported steel.
Last week, U.S. Steel Corp. President and CEO David Burritt said that the Indiana plant would be overhauled, saving 3,800 jobs, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“We are pleased to be making this significant investment at Gary Works, which will improve the facility’s environmental performance, bolster our competitiveness and benefit the local community for years to come,” Burritt said in a statement.
“We are experiencing a renaissance at U.S. Steel,” Burritt added, according to Breitbart.
U.S. Steel recently hired 800 workers and reopened blast furnaces in Granite City, Illinois. Trump visited the plant in July along with Burritt.
“We’re here today to celebrate a great victory, a victory for all of you, for this community and for our entire country. After years of shutdowns and cutbacks, today the blast furnace here in Granite City is blazing bright, workers are back on the job and we are once again pouring new American steel into the spine of our country,” Trump said, according to RealClearPolitics.
“Made in America. It’s not just a slogan but a way of life,” Trump added.
Trump noted that America once had a special place in the hearts of people around the world because of what was made here.
“I remember when I was growing up, ‘Made in the U.S.A,’ it was on everything. It was on everything,” he said. “A country, Czechoslovakia, a long time ago, people used to take single dollar bills and they used to paint them and paste them onto the windshield of their car because it represented America. That’s all coming back. That’s what’s happening. Made in the U.S.A., made in America. We’re proud of it again.”
Burritt said last month that U.S. Steel was not done growing.
“We have a lot of work to do. This is a — a company that has — was originally known as a great, iconic corporation back in 1901. We need to bring back that status, we need to make U.S. Steel great again,” he said.
Trump said America needs a strong steel industry.
“We need steel plants. And to see an old big monster plant like this reopening, that is an honor. And I look at the faces of you people. I could be one of you. I could be one of you. I like you guys. I like you guys, I tell you, but I could be one of you. It’s true. Looking around, all these good looking people, it could be me. And I’d be happy if I was, because you’re opening up plants all over the country,” he said.
U.S. Steel is not the only giant to benefit from Trump’s policies, The New York Times reported.
Lakshmi N. Mittal, the chairman and chief executive of steel production company ArcelorMittal, has seen Trump’s policies increase his bottom line. For the second quarter, the compant’s profits rose 41 on sales of $20 billion.
“The industry has quite changed,” Mittal said. “Trade actions in various countries have really helped in structurally changing the landscape of the steel industry.”
One analyst said the company was in the right place at the right time.
“ArcelorMittal is enjoying a dream combination of strong demand and robust prices,” said Seth Rosenfeld, an analyst at the investment bank Jefferies.
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