In Kenosha, Wis., on April 18, President Donald Trump said in an interview with WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee:
“I approved a pipeline, right, called the Keystone pipeline, and other pipelines. And I want them to use American steel, American product. I want it manufactured here. And I made those changes just before we signed it. I said, Where’s the steel coming from? So, all pipelines that are coming into this country from now on has to be American steel, which is really a big factor.”
So, while mentioning the Keystone, which still needs approvals before it can be built, Trump said “all pipelines that are coming into” the United States have to be made with American steel.
The 1,179-mile Keystone XL, from western Canada to Nebraska, would connect with an existing pipeline system to refineries on the Gulf Coast. The refineries export about two-thirds of their products; the rest is sold in the United States.
President Barack Obama rejected the Keystone pipeline in November 2015, saying it wouldn't serve U.S. national interests and would undercut America's global leadership on climate change. Trump promised during the 2016 campaign that he would build the Keystone and get "a piece of the profits."
In March, at Trump's urging, the State Department issued a presidential permit necessary for the pipeline to cross the U.S.-Canadian border. But before it can be built, it must win approval from the Nebraska Public Service Commission and local landowners.
The steel connection relates to a memorandum on construction of American pipelines that Trump signed in January calling for U.S oil pipelines to use American steel in their construction. But it is not an order carrying strict requirements.
The memo directs the commerce secretary to “develop a plan under which all new pipelines, as well as retrofitted, repaired, or expanded pipelines, inside the borders of the United States,” use materials and equipment produced in the United States, “to the maximum extent possible and to the extent permitted by law.”
Five weeks after Trump signed the memorandum, the White House stated that it does not apply to the Keystone XL. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that because the Keystone is not a “new” project, it is not bound by the memo. “But I know that everything moving forward would be — fall under that (memorandum),” she said.
While carrying the weight of the president's signature, the memorandum has the force of law only over the executive branch of the federal government.
And, as Reuters has reported, it contains “legal language about ordering things to the maximum extent permitted by law, which is designed to preserve lots of wiggle-room”; and the attempt to mandate the use of American steel “would almost certainly violate 70 years of settled international trade law.”
Chris Weld, a Washington trade lawyer whose firm represents American steel companies, told the Washington Post that the memorandum is not a mandate, but rather “a message to U.S. pipeline operators to consider steps to purchase U.S.-produced iron and steel.”
TransCanada, Keystone's owner, has said it already has purchase agreements for the 660,000 tons of steel it will use. Half is to come from the Arkansas plant of an India-based steelmaker, 10 percent from a plant in India and the rest imported from Canada and Italy.
Our rating
While mentioning the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, Trump said: “All pipelines that are coming into this country from now on has to be American steel.”
Though the memorandum could put pressure on pipeline companies to use American steel, it does not contain any requirements that only American steel be used.
We rate Trump's statement False.
“All pipelines that are coming into this country from now on has to be American steel.”
— Donald Trump on Tuesday, April 18th, 2017 in a speech in Milwaukee
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