India, Sept. 29 -- India's Essar Group is planning to invest about $18 billion in the United States, including a proposed $15 billion steel plant in southeast Iowa. The project, announced by US President Donald Trump on September 28, 2026, is expected to connect Essar's iron ore mining operations in Minnesota with a large-scale steelmaking facility in Iowa.

The Iowa project will be developed by Mesabi Metallics, Essar Group's US subsidiary. The company plans to use iron ore from its mine in Nashwauk, Minnesota, and transport it to Iowa for steel production, creating an integrated US supply chain from mining to finished steel.

Trump described the planned facility as the "largest steel plant in American history" and said it would be one o...