Trump Touts Iowa Steel Deal and Alaska Pipeline as Both Unravel Within Days

On September 28, 2026, Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced a $15 billion Mesabi Metallics steel plant in Iowa, with Lutnick declaring "this deal is done" and Trump claiming construction had already begun. Within a day, Gov. Kim Reynolds called an emergency legislative session on tax incentives, and local reporting found the project still lacked land acquisition and permits. Days later, Trump announced South Korea had agreed to invest $50-54 billion in an Alaska natural gas pipeline; South Korea's trade minister responded that "definitive language goes far beyond what was agreed" and said Seoul was still reviewing whether to proceed. Trump later acknowledged nothing had been signed.

Both Senate-state announcements came as 2026 midterm campaigning intensified, when a completed deal carries more political value than one still being negotiated. Iowa officials told reporters the Mesabi announcement seemed "too good to be true," comparing it to Trump's unfulfilled 2017 Foxconn pledge in Wisconsin. Overstating the completeness of unresolved deals risks misleading voters, investors and foreign partners about commitments that do not yet exist.

Neither project has a signed, binding agreement as of this reporting. Iowa's incentive package remains before the legislature, and South Korea has not confirmed the pipeline investment.