Iowa raises its tax incentive cap for a $15 billion steel plant

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 14:25:00 GMT

Lawmakers approved $1.36 billion in incentives five weeks before the election, after the commerce secretary had already called the deal done.

Iowa lawmakers passed a bill increasing the state’s tax incentive cap for a $15 billion steel plant. CBS News reported that Iowa approved $1.36 billion for the foreign-owned plant, in a swing state. The project is the Mesabi Metallics steel development, for which lawmakers had been weighing bigger tax credits.

The sequence is the story. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters at the White House on Monday that ‘the deal is done’, but lawmakers in Iowa still had not received the terms. State and local officials in the days after suggested otherwise. US News quoted a local official, Brandon Mattingly, saying by email that Iowa ‘did get kind of into the mix’.

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Iowa raises its tax incentive cap for a $15 billion steel plant