Governor Kim Reynolds signed House File 2801 into law, amending Iowa’s Major Economic Growth Attraction program to let one rural-area business receive up to 10 percent of its investment over 10 years, about $1.36 billion for the Mesabi project. The Iowa House approved the bill 75-17 and the Senate 28-19 during a special session Reynolds called after Trump’s September 28 Oval Office announcement. Reynolds called it the most consequential economic development in state history.
The project, led by Minnesota-based Mesabi Metallics and backed by India’s Essar Group, would build what the White House calls the largest steel plant ever built in the United States: roughly $15 billion for the Iowa complex, part of an $18 billion mine-to-mill plan that includes nearly $3 billion to complete Mesabi’s iron ore mine and pellet plant near Nashwauk, Minnesota. The Iowa mill would process DR-grade pellets from Minnesota through electric arc furnaces, with initial capacity around 7.5 million metric tons a year expandable to 10 million, targeting first production in 2030, with about 1,700 to 2,000 permanent jobs and up to 6,000 construction jobs. More than 1,500 construction workers are already on site at Nashwauk. The White House projects $95 billion in US economic output during construction and the first 10 years of operations, an administration estimate that is not independently verified.
The economics run through the tariff wall. The administration has made domestic metals production a priority citing national security amid the war with Iran; the Section 232 steel rate was doubled to 50 percent last summer, cutting imports and lifting US prices, and the US surpassed Japan as a crude steel producer last year for the first time since 1999. The project is one of several administration-backed metals bets alongside Hyundai Steel’s $5.8 billion Louisiana mill and a $4 billion aluminum smelter project in Oklahoma, the latter delayed to April 2027 after a local pause. State incentive details beyond the MEGA-program amendment remain unclear, and no construction contracts, customer commitments or final site agreement have been disclosed.