President Donald Trump has spent years championing American steel, slapping tariffs on foreign metals and promising to shield U.S. manufacturers from overseas competition. But a bombshell New York Times report reveals he may have traded a lucrative tariff break for tens of millions of dollars worth of donated foreign steel for his White House ballroom.
According to the Times, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, the world's second-largest steel maker, donated steel valued at $37 million for Trump's $400 million ballroom project. The steel was produced in Europe.
Two days after Trump publicly praised the donation at a White House event for wealthy donors, his administration issued a proclamation cutting in half the tariffs on automotive steel exported from ArcelorMittal's Canadian plant.
“He said, ‘Sir, I’d like to donate the steel for your ballroom,’” Trump told the crowd at the time. “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?’”
"Mr. Trump described the metal 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 report added.
The timing raised immediate red flags.
A White House official pushed back on any connection between the donation and the tariff cut, calling the link "tenuous." The official declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Trump has doubled steel tariffs to 50 percent, explicitly to block foreign metals and boost domestic producers.
The Steel Manufacturers' Association pointedly noted its members stood "ready to supply the high-quality, American-made steel" the president needed.