White House says planned Iowa steel complex would support up to 6,000 construction jobs

A planned $15 billion Mesabi Metallics steel complex in Iowa would support up to 6,000 construction jobs and create 1,750 permanent positions, according to an October 8 White House release that cast recent industrial commitments as gains for American workers.

Anduril’s Arsenal-2 shipyard project in Maryland would add about 3,100 direct jobs and more than 11,000 indirect jobs, according to the release. The planned yard would produce Virginia-class components and large assemblies, backed by $3.7 billion in private investment from Anduril and up to $2.9 billion from the Navy.

The administration presented the steel, shipbuilding, energy and medical-manufacturing commitments as evidence of President Donald Trump’s jobs agenda.

In medical manufacturing, Becton Dickinson’s announced $19 billion U.S. investment includes $3 billion for expanding American manufacturing, the release said. The company plans to produce 100% of the needles it sells in America using American-made steel and expand domestic output of essential products.

AstraZeneca’s $1 billion Massachusetts investment sits within its earlier $50 billion commitment under a Most Favored Nation agreement with the administration. The White House said the company is expanding domestic research and manufacturing operations and growing its U.S. workforce.

The largest dollar commitment in the roundup was a South Korean energy package of up to $200 billion. It includes as much as $120 billion for eight large-scale nuclear plants, $54 billion tied to the Alaska LNG pipeline and $22.3 billion for a six-gigawatt natural gas power facility in Texas, according to the release.