President Trump announced that the United States has overtaken Japan in steel production during an Oval Office event on Sept. 28 detailing plans for a $15 billion manufacturing facility in Iowa. The mill, to be built by Mesabi Metallics, is the first new mega-steel plant in the U.S. since the 1960s and is projected to add $95 billion to the domestic economy over ten years. The project is scheduled to create 1,750 permanent jobs and up to 6,000 construction positions, with an annual output of 10 million tons of steel starting in 2030.

The facility will be owned by India's Essar Group and is supported by up to $10 billion in financing from the Export-Import Bank. It will draw raw materials from a $2.5 billion iron ore mine in Minnesota, described as the first new mine in the U.S. in 50 years. While Iowa Republicans have hailed the investment as a gamechanger ahead of midterms, report from Al Jazeera highlight Essar's ties to Russia, and critics have noted the group's previous bankruptcy and failed job promises in Minnesota.