California governor Gavin Newsom has trolled Donald Trump over a report suggesting a European metals company has donated foreign steel for the construction of his White House ballroom.
According to The New York Times, the Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal has donated materials to help with the $400 million project, which would appear to run counter to the president’s past championing of the American steel industry, given that the materials were reportedly produced in Europe.
The president has long spoken up for U.S. steel, part of his broader support for traditional blue-collar industries, imposing tariffs on foreign metal imports last year in the interest of shielding domestic manufacturers from overseas competition.
“While the White House imports foreign steel to build Trump’s ugly Epstein Ballroom, California is opening its first new steel plant in 50 years,” gloated Gov. Newsom via his official press office account, referring to Pacific Steel breaking ground on a new mill in his state this week.
The governor also responded on his personal account, suggesting a new slogan for the administration: “Make America Luxembourg Again?”
Another pointed criticism was offered by Minnesota state senator Grant Hauschild, who wrote: “Foreign steel in the White House? Are you kidding? We’ve got Iron Range mines shut down & 100’s of United Steelworkers laid off.
“Instead, they’re outsourcing one of the most iconic American buildings overseas! American steel built this country, it should build the White House too.”
Administration spokesman Davis Ingle responded by saying that Trump is “making the White House beautiful and giving it the glory it deserves at no cost to the taxpayer – something everyone should celebrate.
“Only people with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome would find a problem with that.”
A White House official told The Independent they could not discuss specific materials being used in the project or their point of origin, citing security concerns.
The Independent has also reached out to ArcelorMittal for further comment.
Trump has stressed that he raised the money for the ballroom from wealthy private donors, corporations and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs so that it would not cost the public.
He previously revealed that the ventilation and heating giant Carrier Global had donated the air conditioning for his pet project, but the source of the steel involved has not been disclosed before.
The president did allude to the donation last October, however, telling a crowd he had been approached by an executive from “great steel company.”
“He said, ‘Sir, I’d like to donate the steel for your ballroom,’” Trump recounted. “I said: ‘Whoa, that’s nice.’ And I found out – ‘How much is the steel?’ I called the contractor. ‘Sir, it’s down for $37 million.’ I said, ‘This is a nice donation, right?’”
The president went on to describe the gift as “great steel as opposed to garbage steel, because they dump a lot of garbage around.
“You know, steel is like everything else, including human beings. Steel could be high quality, and it can be low quality. He wants to make sure it’s high quality.”
The Times points out that, shortly after Trump made those comments, the White House issued a proclamation ordering Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to cut tariffs in half on aluminium and steel producers operating in Canada and Mexico and supplying the U.S. auto sector.
ArcelorMittal potentially stood to benefit from that decision as it exports automotive steel south from Canada, although a White House official dismissed the link as “tenuous”.
The official also pointed out that the corporation benefits the U.S. economy directly because it co-owns a facility in Alabama with Nippon Steel as well as an iron mine in Minnesota.
