Steel Dynamics has authorized construction of a $1.8 billion facility in the southwest United States which will produce 3 million tons of steel per year and create hundreds of jobs.
Aside from the 600 direct jobs planned for creation at the plant, the area is expected to see growth in indirect job opportunities.
Construction is set to begin in 2020 with operations beginning in the second half of 2021.
President Trump allowed himself a moment to gloat about the announcement, proclaiming “Steel jobs are coming back to America, just like I predicted.”
Steel Dynamics announced that it will build a brand new 3 million ton steel mill in the Southwest that will create 600 good-paying U.S. JOBS. Steel JOBS are coming back to America, just like I predicted. Congratulations to Steel Dynamics!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2018
Steel industry jobs come back to America, just like Trump predicted
President Trump has long touted a tougher stance on trade to counter unfair practices by other countries and bring better manufacturing jobs to the U.S. Part of the agenda has been to raise tariffs.
The tariffs have “had major, positive effects on steel and aluminum workers and jobs and will continue to do so long into the future,” an official White House statement read from earlier this year.
….Tariffs have had a tremendous positive impact on our Steel Industry. Plants are opening all over the U.S., Steelworkers are working again, and big dollars are flowing into our Treasury. Other countries use Tariffs against, but when we use them, foolish people scream!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2018
Those positive effects were quickly backed up by tangible examples.
In July, U.S. Steel – America’s second largest steel producer – announced they would restart blast furnaces in Granite City, Illinois, bringing back 500 employees that were laid off in 2015.
Georgetown Steel, who had closed their plant years ago, announced they would be reopening and creating hundreds of jobs, something they did in June.
Another mill located in Ohio announced in August their plans to invest in a possible $700 million expansion over the next two to three years.
In addition to the great jobs news, steelworkers also saw their wages rise, with some achieving the highest rate they’d seen in six years.
Obama said manufacturing jobs were never coming back
Barack Obama could never envision the level of job growth occurring under President Trump. He had buried the U.S. economy so deeply in the mud, that he could only assume it would take a miracle or some act of magic to bring these manufacturing jobs back.
Obama brags about hundreds of jobs created by him yet he’s quiet about the thousands of jobs sent overseas under him. He had no clue how to bring jobs back but takes credit for this booming economy like he did all that.
He asked: What magic wand do you have? Well, We Have TRUMP. pic.twitter.com/AGkfJt4VYK— Diamond and Silk® (@DiamondandSilk) November 5, 2018
Obama also did his best to preemptively strike back against any Trump success, lying about the level of steel manufacturing under his administration.
“The steel industry is producing as much steel in the United States as it ever was,” he claimed. “It’s just (that) it needs one-tenth of the workers that it used to.”
Except, as Politifact pointed out, “Obama was wrong on both counts.”
Success of the steel industry counters claims that GM closed plants due to tariffs
General Motors recently announced layoffs that would affect 15,000 workers, previously using the steel tariffs as an excuse for such actions.
In June, they had warned trade tariffs could lead to job losses and lower wages, claiming in correspondence with the Commerce Department that higher steel tariffs would affect competitiveness.
General Motors is cutting nearly 15,000 factory and white-collar jobs.
GM says President Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs have cost them $1.4 billion — but the cutbacks are more about changing consumer tastes. pic.twitter.com/xsaR8Fpoyf
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 27, 2018
The President fired back after the layoff announcements, threatening to cut off government subsidies to the company.
Steel Dynamics and other production plant announcements suggest the steel industry has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the tariff battle.
As such, it would seem something other than the trade war has caused GM to close plants and cut jobs, which is why Trump immediately jumped on this news from Steel Dynamics. It is a direct shot back at the auto manufacturing company.
Rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing sector has been a primary goal for the Trump administration since he took office, and despite critics best efforts to portray otherwise, he is doing just that.
